the way our brains process that information is far different from the way a computer works.

That's true, and it brings up a really good point. I think the technical word for what you're describing is "qualia". Human beings interpret their sensory inputs differently than computers. Qualia is the word that describes what is fed to those sensory inputs. Human beings and computers have completely different reactions to qualia.

In the spirit of not letting the forum die as one topic poster previously seemed to be worried about, how about a cliche question that may or may not have been discussed  on the forum already?


Can computers be made to have feelings?

I think the better question is: will increasing computer power more and more result in emergent behavior -not necessary an emotion-based behavior- but some type of behavior beyond our predictive powers? I guess there's really  no way of getting a definite answer to that question but if you'd like to try to answer it please do.

A related question is what the meaning intelligence is, and whether it's simply a function of processor power.

Do you think the "Chinese Room" thought experiment is correct? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room

I've spoken to some with high scientific qualifications who believe that current supercomputers possess the intelligence of mice, and that it's only a matter of time before computers have the intelligence of people. They fully implied that computers could have abilities like self-awareness and consciousness. What do you think of that?

Interested to hear everyone's opinion...

Good thread topic. I first saw one of my family members playing SC2 on 3DO in the 90s. Back then I couldn't believe how "complex" the game environment was and how much freedom you have when playing the game. I still find the RPG aspect of the game really cool. There isn't really a set way to win the game. Also I really like the star system/hyperspace aspects.

You see this is all very interesting, but where does Megan Fox fit into the story?

It's something we knew had to be happening. Our theories allowed it, but didn't predict it. If you suspected that this would happen, though, they definitely pointed you in the right direction. So the experiment was done, and sure enough, the effect was found. Now they can find out more about the nature of the difference.

Just out of curiousity, what theories allowed for this?

I'm guessing that no one really knows why this occurs, it's just something we've observed. Maybe it was predicted by theory, I'm not really sure.

I thought it was funny this morning that two stories were headlining the Yahoo! homepage, next to each other.

The first: A new discovery could explain why we exist (http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100518/sc_space/whyweexistmatterwinsbattleoverantimatter)

The second: Megan Fox is out of Transformers 3 (http://movies.yahoo.com/news/usmovies.accesshollywood.com/updated-megan-fox-dropped-from-transformers-3)

When put next to each other, it seems as though both are competing to explain the same theory.

Next time I will. Thought I'd let you guys test the water first.

Masters of Orion is kind of a similar game. I don't think there was ever an official explanation of the Orz, although there's tons of discussion about them here.

I recall that the map you posted a link to was included in the original 3DO copy my family owns. Admiral Zex's hint would probably be the only thing the map would be really that useful for though. I don't recall any other part of the game depending on the acutal shape of the constellation.

So, I'd imagine this will be message based. I can't imagine how you'd do it in a thread.

That looks like fun. How will you do that online? Will it be Ur-Quan themed? I guess the mafia would be Kohr-Ah and the innocents Spathi?

The most recent pictures from superbutcherx look really exciting. Is it almost time for the demo?

Actually, the more I think about it, hyperspace navigation without using autopilot would be pretty near impossible if you used mouse only for navigation. Unless you pointed on a section of the mini map and wherever you clicked the ship went.

The mouse support she wanted was just for the menus. Key control for ship combat is only fair.

Is that really a huge improvement? It isn't that hard to scroll through the menu options using the up/down arrows. The only thing I think it would improve greatly is map navigation. Overall I think the improvements would be kind of minor.