- summary How to initiate and communicate with the AI Mind
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Table of Contents |
Overview
Mind.Forth -- the software of an artificial robot Mind written in the Forth programming language -- became a genuine artificial intelligence as a result of a sudden AI breakthrough on 7 June 2006. However, Mind.Forth did not become AI-Complete until 22 January 2008. The breakthrough -- clearly visible in Tutorial mode -- made Mind.Forth able to think logically and not output spurious associations of gibberish. Is it for real? Is it genuine artificial intelligence? You be the judge. You be the early adopter. On some clunky old MS-DOS machine, get Mind.Forth up and running ( potentially forever) for all to see and judge. Go into the source code, if you like, and carve your name into the on-screen messages for users. Show it to some high-potential, low-achiever who claims to be ultra-intelligent but never does anything ultra-productive. Then hold onto your hat, and welcome to the Technological Singularity.
Installation
In a computer
In a robot
Operation
After the basic functionality of the AI Mind has been tested, we advance to probing its more sophisticated features and possibilities. Some of these features are just getting their foot in the door of AI operation. Their implementation is deepening and strengthening to match how we describe them in the User Manual. For example, we work towards machine ConSciousness in Mindforth by teaching the AI things about itself and by trying to steer the AI into chains of thought leading to self-discovery, self-knowledge and self-awareness.
The Forthmind has long been able to distinguish between the word "you" used in reference to itself and the word "you" which it uses to address another mind in the environment. Coming in from the outside world, the word "you" activates the concept of "self" or "I" in Mindforth.
More recently, on 20 April 2009 to be exact, MindForth became able to answer the question "Who are you?" with a statment of its knowledge about itself. Since Mindforth did not yet know its own name, its typical answer was, "I am I." But just to answer a who-are-you question was a MileStone of achievement for Mindforth. In preparation, the AI had to be programmed to handle verbs of being, such as "am" and "is" and "are". Then the AI software needed a special mechanism to deal with interrogative words such as "who" and "what" and "where" and "why". So the who-are-you question of three words involves three special abilities for the AI to comprehend and answer the question: activation of "I"; knowledge of verbs of being; and perception of "who" as a special word triggering a response.
As you teach Mindforth things about itself and you tease out answers in pursuit of a demonstration of self-awareness, you may need to see Mindforth installed in a robot with complex sensory input and motor output before you witness a convincing display of self-awareness. ConSciousness requires the operation of a "searchlight of attention" that explores not only the world around the AiMind but also the AiMind itself as a distinct entity in the world. An informational loop is established going from the AiMind through its output motorium to external objects and through the input sensorium back into the AiMind. You as a human being have that same loop in support of your own ConSciousness. You have perhaps heard of "sensory deprivation chambers" which interfere with human consciousness and sanity. Mindforth without robot EmBodiment may be in a condition equivalent to a sensory deprivation chamber. The spirit is willing for ConSciousness, but the flesh is weak, so to speak, if there is no artificial robot body to flesh out the AiMind.
Display Modes
Interaction
Troubleshooting
For the major AiTree modules in MindForth there is a wiki-page with a DeBug section on how to diagnose and correct problems and malfunctions in the AI software.
Common problems
Getting help
For immediate help in dealing with the Forth programming language, you may enter the #forth channel of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and ask a question of the Forth experts in residence. Visit http://www.mibbit.com and click on "Start chatting now >>" to launch the screen with the option of "Browse IRC Networks." Type in "Forth language" and click the "Find channels" button. You should see #forth@irc.freenode.net among the first two or three pages of results of the search. You join the #forth channel simply by clicking on #forth@irc.freenode.net and you are immediately presented with a place to type your chat messages at the bottom of the screen. Introduce yourself, but play it safe by not giving out any personal details. You may type in /nick yournewnick as a command to change from your entry nickname to your favorite nickname. When you are done chatting about Forth, you may enter the /quit command to leave the #forth IRC channel.
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.forth on Usenet is where you may ask or answer questions about MindForth and check back for responses as time goes by -- not so immediately as in the #forth Internet Relay Chat channel.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/win32forth/messages is a discussion group devoted specifically to the Win32Forth dialect in which MindForth is programmed and in which http://aimind-i.com is programmed.
Shutdown
At any time, the human user may press the [Esc(ape)] key to stop the Mind.Forth software, which will show some instructions about what to do next in the Forth window. Entering "bye" in the Forth window shuts down the Forth programming environment, leaving the MS-DOS window. Entering "EXIT" in MS-DOS shuts down MS-DOS. To shut down the personal computer (PC), clicking first on the "Start" button and then on the "Shut Down..." option should gracefully allow the computer to be turned off when all is ready.
Programming MindForth
ReSources
As the User Manual grows by accretion of new details in keeping with new functionality being added to MindForth, older manuals of older versions of MindForth may be worth consulting to shed light on how an AI Mind feature came to be or how the uses of MindForth have changed over time. Sources of older manuals include the following.
http://mind.sourceforge.net/m4thuser.html
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/m4thuser.html
MemeSpace
AdminisTrivia AiChat AiEvolution AutoInstall CodeBase CognitiveChainReaction ConSciousness DeBug DiaSpora DownLoad FlowChart ForthMindTextFile FreeWare GenerationOfThought HardTakeoff ImMortality InPut IntelligenceQuotient KnowledgeBase LifeQuaScienceFiction MainLoop MasPar MeanderingChain MileStones MindForth MindGrid MindMeld MindModule OldestLivingAiMind OpenSource OutPut PortingOfCode ProofOfConcept PsychoSurgery QuIckening RoadMap RoBot ScienceMuseums SeedAi ShareWare SubConscious SuperIntelligence TechnologicalSingularity TelePresence