OVER the past half-century, our efforts to create machines in our own image have been stymied by three things: life, consciousness and intelligence.
We may labour under the comforting illusion that we understand these concepts. In reality, no one can agree on precisely what they mean.
It is no surprise, then, that the “top down” approach to creating artificial intelligence, life and consciousness has failed. If we can’t define what intelligence really is, attempts at AI are doomed. Ditto the rest.
But there is an alternative – evolving digital life from the “bottom up”. At long last, this approach seems…
