The project for Artificial Intelligence is an interesting one, not only because of what it means for the capabilities of machines in the future, but also what it reveals about ourselves, more specifically the nature and limitations of language and intelligence.

This always inevitably leads me to thinking about the relationships I have on the internet. Incidentally, I'm a big fan of internet relationships (of all kinds), at least in theory, because I think it's important to focus on someone's ideas above everything else. But dialogue heavy relationships are Janus-faced in some respects, while you've got your focus in the right place (at least for me), that much concentration likely distorts the actual meaning. I'm still human, I still fill out your avatar with a full person. In fact, in all the places that you're lacking, I supplant my own perfect version of you.

Last night I spoke to a Turing program for a little over an hour, and to be honest, it was more well behaved than most of the people I run into in System Wars. At least the program tries to sound like a human being, some of the SW types, well I'm not so sure. At one point the Turing machine came onto me (a result of a thought experiment gone awry) and then told me exactly how it "liked it." The fact that I blushed, I think speaks well for the AI project. Even if there is nothing in that machine other than programmed text, that it can possibly evoke even the silliest most trivial emotion in me, makes me wonder about the power of mere programming.

PessimismHere is my text to you, and I'm not necessarily more real than a well-programed Turing test. What is your proof that I'm real, that my ideas are unique, that I'm genuine? Hello. My name is Carrie. Welcome to my digital world. Take off your coat. If I made a typo, wuold I be more real to you then? What if I told you about my youth, my feelings, the people I've loved? How would you know that I am honest or even human?

OptimismA few months ago, patrolling the forums, I ran into a clever boy by the name of mindcavity. I loved his posts and wrote him a silly-I'd-like-to-be-your-friend-style PM. To say that he's one of the most important people in the world to me now, sounds ridiculous, but it's true. He's only words on the screen and yet he's some of the most comforting words on the screen I've ever met. Can a machine be programmed to be that thoughtful, funny, and supportive?

But what does this mean for video gaming?

So much that I don't know where to begin. The Metal Gear Solid games are artistically sculpted by Kojima-san as layers upon layers of intelligence. Finite-state math in programming language, which is used to both display and be AI, with a splash of real-world ethical morality all over it. MGS and other video games might not be able to hold up a conversation realistically, but the more they simulate life experiences, and teach us things about the world and ourselves, the more we're going to see the possibility of AI. That's why I think it's important to create everything with a purpose, internet relationships, video games, conversations with Turing machines. You never know what you're going to get out of it.