On the contrary, at the end of the day goals must be given from the outside (evolution for biological organisms, humans for machines).
Strictly speaking it isn’t goals that evolution gives biological organisms. I think evolution gives us a control box that influences, but does not have full control of, the creation of goals within the rest of the system. This type of system is called teleogenetic.
I say this because if evolution had actually given us the goals of reproduction, or just eating nice food, we wouldn’t have such things as abstinence, diets or long term existential threat reduction. Sure those things are hard, they conflict with the box. But the box might well be wrong/simplistic, so it does not have full control. So I don’t think it should be viewed as a goal for the system.
I think there is a space for a type of systems that don’t maximise a goal. Instead they ensure that the best behavior previously found is maintained against worse experimental variations (judged by aggregate signal from the box). I also think that biological systems and workable AI would fit in that category.
I also suspect we will become the control boxes of teleogenetic computers.
Strictly speaking it isn’t goals that evolution gives biological organisms. I think evolution gives us a control box that influences, but does not have full control of, the creation of goals within the rest of the system. This type of system is called teleogenetic.
I say this because if evolution had actually given us the goals of reproduction, or just eating nice food, we wouldn’t have such things as abstinence, diets or long term existential threat reduction. Sure those things are hard, they conflict with the box. But the box might well be wrong/simplistic, so it does not have full control. So I don’t think it should be viewed as a goal for the system.
I think there is a space for a type of systems that don’t maximise a goal. Instead they ensure that the best behavior previously found is maintained against worse experimental variations (judged by aggregate signal from the box). I also think that biological systems and workable AI would fit in that category.
I also suspect we will become the control boxes of teleogenetic computers.