From owner-cse584-sp07-list@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU Wed Mar 28 09:04:12 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 l2SD4CwZ020556 for ; Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:04:12 -0400 (EDT) Received: from front2.acsu.buffalo.edu (warmfront.acsu.buffalo.edu [128.205.6.88]) by ares.cse.buffalo.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6) with SMTP id l2SD45uU084953 for ; Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:04:05 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 2042 invoked from network); 28 Mar 2007 13:04:05 -0000 Received: from mailscan1.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.6.133) by front2.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 28 Mar 2007 13:04:05 -0000 Received: (qmail 27141 invoked from network); 28 Mar 2007 13:04:05 -0000 Received: from deliverance.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.7.57) by front3.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 28 Mar 2007 13:04:05 -0000 Received: (qmail 9477 invoked from network); 28 Mar 2007 13:03:57 -0000 Received: from listserv.buffalo.edu (128.205.7.35) by deliverance.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 28 Mar 2007 13:03:57 -0000 Received: by LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 14.5) with spool id 4160876 for CSE584-SP07-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU; Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:03:57 -0400 Delivered-To: cse584-sp07-list@listserv.buffalo.edu Received: (qmail 7603 invoked from network); 28 Mar 2007 13:03:57 -0000 Received: from mailscan3.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.6.135) by listserv.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 28 Mar 2007 13:03:57 -0000 Received: (qmail 992 invoked from network); 28 Mar 2007 13:03:56 -0000 Received: from castor.cse.buffalo.edu (128.205.32.14) by smtp1.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 28 Mar 2007 13:03:56 -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 l2SD3twl020549 for ; Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:03:55 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from rapaport@localhost) by castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (8.13.6/8.12.9/Submit) id l2SD3tPa020548 for cse584-sp07-list@listserv.buffalo.edu; Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:03:55 -0400 (EDT) X-UB-Relay: (castor.cse.buffalo.edu) X-PM-EL-Spam-Prob: : 7% Message-ID: <200703281303.l2SD3tPa020548@castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU> Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:03:55 -0400 Reply-To: "William J. Rapaport" Sender: "Philosophy of Computer Science, Spring 2007" From: "William J. Rapaport" Subject: STEVE PETERSEN -- SOFTWARE INTELLIGENCE -- TODAY, 3/28, 2 PM 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 1335; Body=0 Fuz1=0 Fuz2=0 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.0 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,SUBJ_ALL_CAPS autolearn=no version=3.1.7 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.7 (2006-10-05) on ares.cse.buffalo.edu X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.88.6/2946/Wed Mar 28 05:36:58 2007 on ares.cse.buffalo.edu X-Virus-Status: Clean Status: R Content-Length: 2816 =============================================================================== TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY =============================================================================== 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