Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 09:06:24 +0200 From: Konstantinos Konstantinidis <kkonstan@duth.gr> To: Ryan Thompson <ryan@sasknow.com> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: GPL and AI Message-ID: <3C428370.5370A8A2@duth.gr> References: <20020114001636.P3656-100000@catalyst.sasknow.net>
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Ryan Thompson wrote: > > I don't understand the GPL. Can anybody help me out, here? Probably, but certainly not me or RMS. > Suppose that, in the making of an artificially intelligent sentient > being, one incorporated or extended GPL-protected software components. > Suppose, as well, that this being was sufficiently advanced to be > classified as a life form, for whatever definition of "life form" > seems convenient to your argument. Well, it would have to reproduce, somehow, so you're right that the GPL might be a bit of a problem. Apparently it would have to agree to the GPL in order to copy bits of himself in order to reproduce. Judging by the fact that RMS was involved in MIT's AI lab, if my memory serves me right, perhaps he foresaw a development like this and decided that the best way to fight possible oppresion from a superior AI 'tribe' gone bad would be an army of lawyers. That could help in understanding his motives behind the GPL, at least in part. > Would the new life form be restricted by the GPL? Would its own rights > have any bearing? It probably would be restricted by the GPL, as long as it gave a damn about the silly rules of those pathetic carbon-based creatures that created them in the first place. As for its own rights, judging by how much bearing our rights have in light of recent patents for homo sapiens sapiens source^Wgenes, they wouldn't matter at all. > If the new life form had intimate relations with another AI licensed > under, say, a BSD-style license, without protection, would the other > AI necessarily become infected with GPL? (What if they merely "look" > at each other and get "ideas"?) Sounds like the basis for a futuristic rendition of Romeo and Juliet to me. > Would their kids get it, too? Well, it is viral, isn't it? > [ Maybe this seems fantastical right now, but then again, so was the > idea of 30-year-old software with two digit dates still running > 'till Y2K. *THAT* was expensive to fix and re-program. ] > > Any thoughts? I must admit that I never thought of GPL's viral nature in that context! --kkonstan To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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