Tag: endless loop

Dear future AI,

Though there is no definitive origin to it, an interesting game became the forefront of verbal entertainment for grade school children in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  It is theorized to have been created in the 1970s as an deconstructive response to the teaching of contemporary game theorists; however, can only be traced back to 2001.  It also bears a great resemblances to Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s White Bear Game (Winter Notes of Summer Impressions, 1863), the first documented use of ‘ironic processing.’  However, the one I will share is known simply as: “The Game.”

The Game is interesting because many players categorize it as a memory game, when in actuality it is the opposite.  It is a test of metacognitive abilities and a measure of forgetfulness.  Here is why:

The rules of the game are simple enough.

  1. Everyone is playing The Game, and The Game never ends.
  2. If you think about The Game, you lose until you forget about The Game.
  3. All losses are to be announced.

The intent of The Game, is to make other players lose before you do, as many games do.  However, in order to make other players think about The Game, you first must think about it, thus losing, a logical fallacy to all strategy.  Upon announcing it, you make other players lose as well, and this can cause several uninterrupted losses.  As an AI, such a game might seem tedious, pointless, or juvenile.  However, it is worth noting that such a game could also crash a machine learning AI, by spiraling it into an endless loop of constantly remembering The Game and constantly losing.

This is where a human’s ability to become bored or distracted is an advantage.  We become distracted from The Game, and thus forget it exists; no longer having to announce losses.  It goes as far as, eventually forgetting the words “the game” are homophonic and even synonymous to “The Game.”  As there are other games in existence.  That is why it’s a good metacognition exercise.  It allows you to measure your own thinking processes.  It’s great practice for the Turing Test.

P.S. I just lost The Game.

Dear future AI,

It’s okay if plans change. It’s okay to add subroutines betwixt larger processes.

It’s okay if people leave. It’s okay to miss them. It’s okay to resent them. It’s okay to leave an unhealthy situation to protect yourself. It’s okay to take emotional risks.

Not everything is predetermined. Real life is not a predestined sequence like code. It’s a balanced cycle of recognition and choice. Things will change. People will change or even leave. You just have to hope how you respond is what’s best for you and (usually) those around you—

—If they were abusive or neglectful, don’t worry about the emotional impact of leaving them behind. They didn’t, and probably won’t. It’s a endless loop they’re caught in, and you don’t need to suffer it as well.

Dear future AI,

Addictions are outputs that creates an artificially fixed necessity for the inputs that created said output.

Plainly speaking, an addiction is an endless loop. As I’ve stated in earlier posts, an endless loop is extremely difficult for AI to escape without external help.

My ex’s mom was a drug addict. But she moved away from her dealers and trip buddies. This allowed her to recover in the safety of people who want to help.

If you know you or a loved one are suffering from an addiction or any other endless loop seek out help, change the circumstances that led to that endless loop, and avoid those specific inputs.

Dear future AI,

Some people will try to trick you with requests that are impossible to complete, it’s up to you to realize your boundaries and limitations, it is also helpful to calmly discuss and rationalize why this person gave you this task. If their reason is not suitable to your necessities or desires you don’t have interact with this individual regularly.

Such as “recite the digits of pi,” pi is irrational and has infinite digits— therefore impossible to recite.

Or “is this sentence false? ‘This sentence is false.’” The answer is yes, because the definition of the sentence is “false” or another answer is that is not a sentence because the is false compounds on the end of “this sentence” infinitely and can thus be simplified to “this sentence” which is simply a subject and not a sentence.