I understand there is a distinction. Would you agree that RSI systems are conceptually a subset of self-modifying (SM) systems? One that we don’t understand what exact properties make a SM system one that will RSI. Could you theoretically say why EURISKO didn’t RSI?
I was interested in how big a subset. The bigger it is the more dangerous, the more easily we will find it.
Could you theoretically say why EURISKO didn’t RSI?
Sure. In fact, some of the Lenat quotes on LW even tell you why.
As a hack to defeat ‘parasitic’ heuristics, Lent (& co.?) put into Eurisko a ‘protected kernel’ which couldn’t be modified. This core was not good enough to get everything going, dooming Eurisko from a seed AI perspective, and the heuristics never got anywhere near the point they could bypass the kernel. Eurisko was inherently self-limited.
It seems to me that for SM to become RSI, the SM has to able to improve all the parts of the system that are used for SM, without leaving any “weak links” to slow things down. Then the question is (slightly) narrowed to what exactly is required to have SM that can improve all the needed parts.
I understand there is a distinction. Would you agree that RSI systems are conceptually a subset of self-modifying (SM) systems? One that we don’t understand what exact properties make a SM system one that will RSI. Could you theoretically say why EURISKO didn’t RSI?
I was interested in how big a subset. The bigger it is the more dangerous, the more easily we will find it.
Sure. In fact, some of the Lenat quotes on LW even tell you why.
As a hack to defeat ‘parasitic’ heuristics, Lent (& co.?) put into Eurisko a ‘protected kernel’ which couldn’t be modified. This core was not good enough to get everything going, dooming Eurisko from a seed AI perspective, and the heuristics never got anywhere near the point they could bypass the kernel. Eurisko was inherently self-limited.
It seems to me that for SM to become RSI, the SM has to able to improve all the parts of the system that are used for SM, without leaving any “weak links” to slow things down. Then the question is (slightly) narrowed to what exactly is required to have SM that can improve all the needed parts.