Re: [FT] Unpredictable AI

     I'm not really replying to anyone in particular here, so I'm 
just going to start without any quoting. I'm also going to reserve my 
particular opinion to the end of the post, mostly because it's not 
the important part of what I'm saying.

     So far, there have been some excellent arguments on both sides 
of this debate. IMO, if you WANT AI fighters, you have some excellent 
PSB justifications for how and why fighters are piloted by AI. On the 
other hand, if you want human-piloted fighters, there are also plenty 
of ways to justify that.
     Most of the anti-AI posters seem (IMO) to be taking the 
limitations of modern computer systems and projecting them forwards 
(assuming that, because we can't do something NOW, we still won't be 
able to do it in the GZG-verse). The pro-AI people seem to be 
assuming that, because as far as we know it is POSSIBLE (albeit 
beyond our current capabilities) to come up with AI, that by the time 
of the GZGverse, we will have developed that capability. Either side 
could easily be right.
     As far as I am aware, there is no fundamental reason why 
artificial intelligence is impossible to develop, given enough time 
and computer resources. However, it is (IMO) obvious that we have not 
yet developed AI (at least, in the way that people have been using it 
in this discussion of piloting fighters). This makes it a problem of 
coming up with both the resources and methods necessary to construct 
AI. I see no reason why it would be impossible to do that by 2183 (or 
even by 2100). There is also, of course, no guarantee that it WILL be 
done, or, if it is, that the resulting AI will be used in fighter 
operations. We don't know, and we have no way of finding out (short 
of staying alive that long), so it becomes mostly a matter of 
preference.

     Personally, I like the idea of AI. I think that, in a setting 
like the GZGverse, where the existence of FTL has been granted (and 
that is, at the moment, a theoretical impossibility), the existence 
of AI is no big stretch. However, that doesn't mean that I'll refuse 
to play with anyone who sees things differently....

Just a few thoughts....