Speaker looks at technology
and its affect on the future
, ■ Professor Doug
Hofstadter discusses a
transcendence of humans
into artificial intelligence
By Eric Pfeiffer
Oregon Daily Emerald
“Will Spiritual Robots Replace
Humanity by 2001?”
That was the question Pulitzer
Prize-winning author and Indiana
University Professor Doug Hofs
tadter discussed during a lecture
Saturday at the University.
Students, faculty and commu
nity members packed 100
Willamette Hall to full capacity
and warmly received the visiting
professor.
Hofstadter’s lecture covered
topics ranging from artificial in
telligence to the sexual reproduc
tion of silicon-based life forms.
The event was hosted by the De
partment of Computer and Infor
mation Science as part of its 30th
anniversary celebration.
Hofstadter graduated from the
University in 1973 with a doctor
ate in physics, and he also special
izes in computer science and
Slavic studies. His 1979 book,
“Goedel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal
Golden Braid,” won the Pulitzer
Prize for literature.
Hofstadter began his lecture by
discussing different scenarios in
which mankind could be re
placed by machines. The most
probable outcome involved
mankind simply becoming obso
lete by its own creations, he said.
“I wasn’t prepared for artificial
r
intelligence to arrive so quickly,”
Hofstadter said. “I don’t like the
idea of my children being the last
generation of the human experi
ence.”
He also discussed whether the
inevitable replacement of human
ity should be thought of as extinc
tion or honorable transcendence.
“Many would argue that trans
ferring our human values to a
more advanced life form should
be the most ethical form of evolu
tion.” Hofstadter said.
These “mind children,” as Hof
stadter referred to them, would be
an extension of the human experi
ence, not the elimination of it.
“Feelings, creativity and vision
certainly aren’t limited to human
beings,” he said. “I think it is quite
possible, almost certain, that sili
con-based life forms will possess
these traits.”
Although some members of the
audience seemed skeptical as to
whether technology could sur
pass human limitations, Hofs
tadter pointed to current exam
ples already taking place.
A prime example he used was
the EMI (Experiments in Musical
Intelligence) project, founded by
UC-Santa Cruz Professor David
Cope in 1981. EMI recreates the
style of classical composers, pro
ducing its own works, according
to the EMI Web site. Hofstadter
said that the program works by
capturing styles and techniques
through the use of brute-force al
gorithms, a concept that does not
rest easily with him.
“Music is the highest of the arts
to me,” he said. “It was very dis
Current & Emerging
Technology:
-Artificial Intelligence
-Artificial Life
-Virtual Reality
-Genetic Engineering
-Robotics
New Concepts:
-Physical Immortality
-Reserve copies of Human Memory
-Cloning
-DNA control
Source: Doug Hofstadter, Phd
turbing to see a machine recreat
ing some of the greatest musical
works in history.”
At the conclusion of his lecture,
Hofstadter left the audience with
two concepts to consider.
One, he said, is that it is only a
matter of time before technology
surpasses human capacity.
“You might think these con
cepts are too crazy, but it’s hap
pening right in front of us,” he
said.
Secondly, he argued that the
ability of technology to complete
ly surpass the human condition
will most likely be a distant occur
rence.
“Artificial intelligence could
surpass human understanding in
a limited scope,” he said. “But
surpassing the full human experi
ence will be much more diffi
cult.”
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