From owner-cse584-sp07-list@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU Mon Mar 26 20:14:19 2007 Received: from ares.cse.buffalo.edu (ares.cse.Buffalo.EDU [128.205.32.79]) by castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (8.13.6/8.12.10) with ESMTP id l2R0EI12007772 for ; Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:14:18 -0400 (EDT) Received: from front3.acsu.buffalo.edu (coldfront.acsu.buffalo.edu [128.205.6.89]) by ares.cse.buffalo.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6) with SMTP id l2R0EDCA057124 for ; Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:14:13 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 26981 invoked from network); 27 Mar 2007 00:14:13 -0000 Received: from mailscan1.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.6.133) by front3.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 27 Mar 2007 00:14:13 -0000 Received: (qmail 26767 invoked from network); 27 Mar 2007 00:14:13 -0000 Received: from deliverance.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.7.57) by front1.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 27 Mar 2007 00:14:13 -0000 Received: (qmail 28695 invoked from network); 27 Mar 2007 00:14:08 -0000 Received: from listserv.buffalo.edu (128.205.7.35) by deliverance.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 27 Mar 2007 00:14:08 -0000 Received: by LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 14.5) with spool id 4122725 for CSE584-SP07-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU; Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:14:08 -0400 Delivered-To: cse584-sp07-list@listserv.buffalo.edu Received: (qmail 10774 invoked from network); 27 Mar 2007 00:14:07 -0000 Received: from mailscan8.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.7.55) by listserv.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 27 Mar 2007 00:14:07 -0000 Received: (qmail 21528 invoked from network); 27 Mar 2007 00:14:07 -0000 Received: from castor.cse.buffalo.edu (128.205.32.14) by smtp1.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 27 Mar 2007 00:14:07 -0000 Received: from castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (rapaport@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (8.13.6/8.12.10) with ESMTP id l2R0E69v007762 for ; Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:14:06 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from rapaport@localhost) by castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (8.13.6/8.12.9/Submit) id l2R0E6LH007761 for cse584-sp07-list@listserv.buffalo.edu; Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:14:06 -0400 (EDT) X-UB-Relay: (castor.cse.buffalo.edu) X-PM-EL-Spam-Prob: : 7% Message-ID: <200703270014.l2R0E6LH007761@castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU> Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:14:06 -0400 Reply-To: "William J. Rapaport" Sender: "Philosophy of Computer Science, Spring 2007" From: "William J. Rapaport" Subject: Steve Petersen, Software Intelligence, Wed., 3/28 To: CSE584-SP07-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU Precedence: list List-Help: , List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Owner: List-Archive: X-UB-Relay: (castor.cse.buffalo.edu) X-DCC-Buffalo.EDU-Metrics: castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU 1029; Body=0 Fuz1=0 Fuz2=0 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.5 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable version=3.1.7 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.7 (2006-10-05) on ares.cse.buffalo.edu X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.88.6/2937/Mon Mar 26 19:20:45 2007 on ares.cse.buffalo.edu X-Virus-Status: Clean Status: R Content-Length: 2802 =============================================================================== THIS WEEK THIS WEEK THIS WEEK THIS WEEK THIS WEEK =============================================================================== Center for Cognitive Science, University at Buffalo presents a return visit by Stephen Petersen Department of Philosophy, Niagara University http://stevepetersen.net/professional/ Wednesday, 28 March 2007; 2:00 p.m.; Park 280 Software Intelligence ABSTRACT These days we are happy to say at least figuratively that some bits of software are intelligent. Chess programs, spam filters, bots on the emerging semantic web, and villains in computer games are all getting "smarter". Though merely metaphorical now, we might wonder if it is possible, someday, for a piece of pure software to be /literally/ intelligent--intelligent in the same important sense normal humans are. Much hangs on this question. According to a growing consensus, intelligence has to do with adaptability in the face of environmental goals--and this notion has motivated much of the "embodied" approach to artificial intelligence. The possibility of software intelligence complicates this consensus, though, and the accompanying embodied robotics program. If software intelligence is possible, for example, probably it will be significantly easier and cheaper to engineer than "real-world" robots. There are ethical implications to the thesis as well, since presumably anything with genuine intelligence carries at least some moral significance. A simulation involving virtual agents in a natural disaster could someday be just as horrific as engineering a natural disaster in the "real world". I argue that even on the consensus view of intelligence, such "software intelligence" is indeed possible. Wednesday, 28 March 2007; 2:00 p.m.; Park 280 Coffee and cookies will be served. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ For further information, please visit: http://www.cogsci.buffalo.edu/ or contact: William J. Rapaport Colloquium Chair, Center for Cognitive Science Associate Professor of Computer Science Adjunct Professor of Philosophy; Affiliated Faculty, Linguistics 201 Bell Hall | (716) 645-3180 x 112 Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering | fax: (716) 645-3464 University at Buffalo (SUNY) | rapaport@cse.buffalo.edu Buffalo, NY 14260-2000 | http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport Buffalo Restaurant Guide: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/restaurant.guide/ Good Things about Buffalo: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/buffalo.html