] "Computer sentience is possible," said John Holland,
] professor of electrical engineering and computer science
] and professor of psychology at the University of
] Michigan. "But for a number of reasons, I don't believe
] that we are anywhere near that stage right now."
] ...
] According to Holland, the problem with developing
] artificial intelligence through things like genetic
] algorithms is that researchers don't yet understand how
] to define what computer programs should be evolving
] toward. Human beings did not evolve to be
] intelligent--they evolved to survive. Intelligence was
] just one of many traits that human beings exploited to
] increase their odds of survival, and the test for
] survival was absolute. Defining an equivalent test of
] fitness for targeting intelligence as an evolutionary
] goal for machines, however, has been elusive. Thus, it is
] difficult to draw comparisons between how human
] intelligence developed and how artificial intelligence
] could evolve.

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