Self-Programming= Learning about Intelligence-Critical System Features

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Authors: Ben Goertzel

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Self-Programming = Learning about Intelligence-Critical System Features

Authors:


Year: 2011
Venue: Self-Programming in AGI Systems Workshop (AGI-11)
Links: paper (PDF)

Summary

Offers a precise characterization of “self-programming”: a system self-programs when it learns about elements of its own “cognitive infrastructure” — the fuzzy set of “intelligence-critical” features whose quality most affects the system's overall intelligence (framed as an optimization over a multi-feature system). The paper argues that the distinction between self-modification and ordinary learning is fundamentally fuzzy and formalizes it through this feature-criticality lens.

Relevance to Hyperon

A conceptual-foundations source for the Self-Modification and Safety Deep Dive — it defines what self-modification (self-programming) means and how it relates to ordinary learning, underpinning the card's treatment of self-modification as a first-class, typed, bounded operation rather than ad-hoc patching.

Key References



Discussion