For any agent, I can create a GLUT that solves problems just as well (provided the vast computing resources necessary to store it), by just duplicating that agent’s actions in all of its possible states.
Surely its performance would be appalling on most problems—vastly inferior to a genuinely intellligent agent implemented with the same hardware technology—and so it will fail to solve many of the problems with time constraints. The idea of a GLUT seems highly impractical. However, if you really think that it would be a good way to construct an intelligent machine, go right ahead.
vastly inferior to a genuinely intellligent agent implemented with the same hardware technology
I agree. That’s the point of the original comment- that “efficient use of resources” is as much a factor in our concept of intelligence as is “cross-domain problem-solving ability”. A GLUT could have the latter, but not the former, attribute.
“Cross-domain problem-solving ability” implicitly includes the idea that some types of problem may involve resource constraints. The issue is whether that point needs further explicit emphasis—in an informal definition of intelligence.
Sure, if you had an infinitely big and fast computer. Of course, even then you still wouldn’t know what to put in the table. But if we’re in infinite theory land, then why not just run AIXI on your infinite computer?
Back in reality, the lookup table approach isn’t going to get anywhere. For example, if you use a video camera as the input stream and after just one frame of data your table would already need something like 256^1000000 entries. The observable universe only has 10^80 particles.
You misunderstand me. I’m pointing out that a GLUT is an example of something with (potentially) immense optimization power, but whose use of computational resources is ridiculously prodigal, and which we might hesitate to call truly intelligent. This is evidence that our concept of intelligence does in fact include some notion of efficiency, even if people don’t think of this aspect without prompting.
Right, but the problem with this counter example is that it isn’t actually possible. A counter example that could occur would be much more convincing.
Personally, if a GLUT could cure cancer, cure aging, prove mind blowing mathematical results, write a award wining romance novel, take over the world, and expand out to take over the universe… I’d be happy considering it to be extremely intelligent.
It’s infeasible within our physics, but it’s possible for (say) our world to be a simulation within a universe of vaster computing power, and to have a GLUT from that world interact with our simulation. I’d say that such a GLUT was extremely powerful, but (once I found out what it really was) I wouldn’t call it intelligent- though I’d expect whatever process produced it (e.g. coded in all of the theorem-proof and problem-solution pairs) to be a different and more intelligent sort of process.
That is, a GLUT is the optimizer equivalent of a tortoise with the world on its back- it needs to be supported on something, and it would be highly unlikely to be tortoises all the way down.
What about a giant look-up table, then?
That requires lots of computing resources. (I think that’s the answer.)
That would surely be very bad at solving problems in a wide range of environments.
For any agent, I can create a GLUT that solves problems just as well (provided the vast computing resources necessary to store it), by just duplicating that agent’s actions in all of its possible states.
Surely its performance would be appalling on most problems—vastly inferior to a genuinely intellligent agent implemented with the same hardware technology—and so it will fail to solve many of the problems with time constraints. The idea of a GLUT seems highly impractical. However, if you really think that it would be a good way to construct an intelligent machine, go right ahead.
I agree. That’s the point of the original comment- that “efficient use of resources” is as much a factor in our concept of intelligence as is “cross-domain problem-solving ability”. A GLUT could have the latter, but not the former, attribute.
“Cross-domain problem-solving ability” implicitly includes the idea that some types of problem may involve resource constraints. The issue is whether that point needs further explicit emphasis—in an informal definition of intelligence.
Sure, if you had an infinitely big and fast computer. Of course, even then you still wouldn’t know what to put in the table. But if we’re in infinite theory land, then why not just run AIXI on your infinite computer?
Back in reality, the lookup table approach isn’t going to get anywhere. For example, if you use a video camera as the input stream and after just one frame of data your table would already need something like 256^1000000 entries. The observable universe only has 10^80 particles.
You misunderstand me. I’m pointing out that a GLUT is an example of something with (potentially) immense optimization power, but whose use of computational resources is ridiculously prodigal, and which we might hesitate to call truly intelligent. This is evidence that our concept of intelligence does in fact include some notion of efficiency, even if people don’t think of this aspect without prompting.
Right, but the problem with this counter example is that it isn’t actually possible. A counter example that could occur would be much more convincing.
Personally, if a GLUT could cure cancer, cure aging, prove mind blowing mathematical results, write a award wining romance novel, take over the world, and expand out to take over the universe… I’d be happy considering it to be extremely intelligent.
It’s infeasible within our physics, but it’s possible for (say) our world to be a simulation within a universe of vaster computing power, and to have a GLUT from that world interact with our simulation. I’d say that such a GLUT was extremely powerful, but (once I found out what it really was) I wouldn’t call it intelligent- though I’d expect whatever process produced it (e.g. coded in all of the theorem-proof and problem-solution pairs) to be a different and more intelligent sort of process.
That is, a GLUT is the optimizer equivalent of a tortoise with the world on its back- it needs to be supported on something, and it would be highly unlikely to be tortoises all the way down.