Two AI Pioneers, Two Bizarre Suicides

Two AI Pioneers, Two Bizarre Suicides 427

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday January 20, 2008 @01:04PM from the unfortunate-losses dept.

BotnetZombie writes "Wired tells the quite sad but very interesting stories of Chris McKinstry and Pushpinder Singh. Initially self-educated, both had the idea to create huge fact databases from which AI agents could feed, hoping to eventually have something that could reason at a human level or better. McKinstry leveraged the dotcom era to grow his database. Singh had the backing of MIT, where he eventually got his PhD and had been offered a position as a professor alongside his mentor, Marvin Minsky. Sadly, personal life was more troublesome for them, and the story ends in a tragic way.

Two AI Pioneers, Two Bizarre Suicides

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Skynet got them! (Score:3, Funny)

by tomhudson ( 43916 ) writes: <barbara,hudson&barbara-hudson,com> on Sunday January 20, 2008 @01:08PM (#22117514) Journal

... and we're coming for you next.

They just wanted... (Score:4, Funny)

by KodaK ( 5477 ) writes: <`sakodak' `at' `gmail.com'> on Sunday January 20, 2008 @01:10PM (#22117524) Homepage

to make friends. :(

Re:McKinstry was a kook (Score:3, Funny)

by Splab ( 574204 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @01:31PM (#22117694)

You just answer "mu".

Ah yes, Mindpixel (Score:4, Funny)

by xC0000005 ( 715810 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @01:46PM (#22117788) Homepage

Chris was best remembered on K5 for his article on how exciting it was to see what a cat sees by chopping the eye out and wiring it up. I suggested that he perform a simpler test - fill the cat's bowl with food and set the bowl down. If the cat sees the bowl and comes, we know what the cat can see - its food bowl. No cats were harmed in the making of my experiment. Despite this, it was still informational.

My How Innovative (Score:2, Funny)

by Layth ( 1090489 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @02:20PM (#22118060)

A "fact" database.. where ever did they get the idea of storing knowledge as a resource for intelligence?

That is totally out of left field.
I feel like a child by the ocean, dwarfed next to such massively innovative thinking.

Re:They just wanted... (Score:2, Funny)

by mixenmaxen ( 857917 ) writes: <(max) (at) (maximise.dk)> on Sunday January 20, 2008 @02:20PM (#22118064) Homepage

I think you mean Geek tragedy

Re:They just wanted... (Score:2, Funny)

by Chrutil ( 732561 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @02:28PM (#22118152)

>> That's about as close to Greek Tragedy as you can get.

Indeed. This Geek Tragedy is only an 'r' away from being Greek.

Re:They just wanted... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @03:06PM (#22118544)

imagine yourself pulling your pants down and manly claiming "Here's the wild anaconda for you baby!". And your loveBot bursts into uncontrollable laughing. Now that's novelty.

Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)

by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @03:17PM (#22118636)

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:They just wanted... (Score:4, Funny)

by Kingrames ( 858416 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @03:24PM (#22118712)

Don't talk to me about life.

Genuine people personalities? (Score:3, Funny)

by Cheesey ( 70139 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @03:38PM (#22118856)

WISE OLD BIRD: [clivebanks.co.uk] Now listen. Our world suffered two blights. One was the blight of the robot.
ARTHUR: Tried to take over did they?
WISE OLD BIRD: Oh my dear fellow, no, no, no, no, no. Much worse than that. They told us they liked us.
ARTHUR: No?!
WISE OLD BIRD: Well, it's not their fault, poor things, they'd been programmed to. But you can imagine how we felt, or at least our ancestors.
ARTHUR: Ghastly.
Eerily prescient, that. AI is "Clippy" - the computer guesses what you are trying to do and tries to help you, invariably making any task more difficult unless you can second-guess the heuristics. Don't pretend you want to help me! Give me a shell and obey my commands, that's all I ask.

I have this old e-diary of Chris'... (Score:2, Funny)

by patagoniantoothfish ( 1155591 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @03:45PM (#22118906)

...but all it says is "My responses are limited. Please try to ask the right questions"

Re:They just wanted... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @03:54PM (#22119002)

This Geek Tragedy is only an 'r' away from being Greek.
And it's only an AI away from "I take ye dagger."

Re:They just wanted... (Score:5, Funny)

by king-manic ( 409855 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @04:25PM (#22119306)

You could easily just manually change emotions (erm. . state values) and the algorithms that define them, etc. Think of it as putting your robot on anti-depressants.
People are like this as well. If you want to set the "batshit crazy" value in your GF just say "hey honey, I'm going for coffee with my Ex-GF."

Re:They just wanted... (Score:3, Funny)

by Plutonite ( 999141 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @05:21PM (#22119808)

You're growing boobs and the irony is that unlike most men, you wouldn't even get turned on by fondling them.
???

Re:They just wanted... (Score:3, Funny)

by AJWM ( 19027 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @05:24PM (#22119820) Homepage

This Geek Tragedy is only an 'r' away from being Greek.

So then, Geek Tragedy is like Greek Tragedy but without the pirates?

Re:They just wanted... (Score:3, Funny)

by unlametheweak ( 1102159 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @05:51PM (#22120106)

why would you want to give robots feelings? I mean the novelty would be great, but the whole point is to make robots that do our bidding, not ones that go around moping half the time.
I think Marvin [wikipedia.org] would disagree, you androidaphobe!

Re:They just wanted... (Score:5, Funny)

by dotancohen ( 1015143 ) writes: on Sunday January 20, 2008 @06:10PM (#22120302) Homepage

My thoughts exactly. I get turned on by fondling my own dick, but I'm not gay.

Re:They just wanted... (Score:5, Funny)

by fractoid ( 1076465 ) writes: on Monday January 21, 2008 @02:43AM (#22123892) Homepage

I think it is more akin to what the mapping of the human gnome project is.
Mapping human gnomes?
...first they came for the gnomes, but I did not cry out, because I was not a gnome. O.o

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Two AI Pioneers, Two Bizarre Suicides 427

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Two AI Pioneers, Two Bizarre Suicides

Skynet got them! (Score:3, Funny)

They just wanted... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:McKinstry was a kook (Score:3, Funny)

Ah yes, Mindpixel (Score:4, Funny)

My How Innovative (Score:2, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:1, Funny)

Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:4, Funny)

Genuine people personalities? (Score:3, Funny)

I have this old e-diary of Chris'... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:They just wanted... (Score:5, Funny)

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