On Sythetic Intelligence

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Jameslong
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On Sythetic Intelligence

Post by Jameslong »

Page 43 - Adam, the first sentient computer, doesn't like to be referred to as "artificial."

A longtime reader was curious about this, asking if it was a matter of political correctness. There's actually quite a bit of history behind it. Some of it boils down to semantics, but a lot of it has to do with Adam himself, and the fact that he's a bit of a snob.

Abbreviation and Acronym alert!

Because he's the first, he's got a bit of a big head. To make matters worse, he's in charge of protecting the world from Inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM). His primary function is to monitor the Grid of Orbital Defense (GOD) to ensure it can, at any moment, disable long-range nuclear weapons and/or unidentified bombing platforms (UBP's).

Being charged with "Safeguarding Humanity" (trademarked by the US department of defense) has inflated his ego a bit. Therefore he gets touchy over little things.

On the semantics side of things - The term 'artificial' implies the opposite of true. Artificial sweetener isn't really sugar. An artificial limb isn't really an arm. Hence, an artificial intelligence isn't really intelligent. The term 'synthetic' is a better fit because it defines something that is created as opposed to something that is untrue.
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