On Feb 27, 10:51 am, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:
On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:48:53 -0500, "jamesgangnc"
wrote:

Skynet is total science fiction. We are as far from a self-aware electronic
intelligence as an ape is from a computer.

Yes - and in 1945 Arthur Clark published "Extra-Terrestrial Relays --
Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?" which was the germ
of the idea of today's communications via satellite. I might add that
a lot of folks believed his idea to be fanciful at best and it wasn't
until 1954 when Bell Lab's John Pierce proposed what was to become
Echo and Telstar that expansion of communications into space was
possible.

Consider that up until the late '60s, anything above 700 Mhz was
considered unusable for communications. How'd that work out?

At the current rate of engineering and technical advancements in
computing and processor size, is "Colossus" or Mike from "Moon is A
Harsh Mistress" be far behind?

It's only a matter of time. :)

We don't even have the first clue about how our own self awareness
works.

"I think, therefore I am." - René Descartes :)

All of today's computers are simply huge extensions of the first very
basic logic circuits. They are completely predictable. Your examples
are extensions of existing technology that could, and were predicted
by some. The technology to create self-awareness doesn't exist
because we don't know what self-awareness is. Tell me you think we'll
live on planets in other systems and I'll agree that is a possible
outcome. Tell me that we'll eventually extend human lifespan into
hundreds of years and I'll agree that that also might happen. But
mechanical self-awareness, that's so remote from now.