G
GALAXY BRAIN: The ultimate (?) distributed
intelligence, an intelligent being with parts spread across an entire
galaxy. The internal communication lags would be on the order of tens
of thousands years, making the top level very slow (but subminds could
be much faster). The parts could be jupiter
brains or other intelligen superobjects.
GAUSSIAN: People whose characteristics
(like intelligence or length) are normally distributed (the Gauss distribution);
normal people in both senses of the word. Used to refer to unaugmented
people, since augmented people could have a radically different distribution
of characteristics.
GENEGENEERING: Genetic engineering.
GENETIC ALGORITHM: Any algorithm
which seeks to solve a problem by considering numerous possibilities
at once, ranking them according to some standard of fitness, and then
combining ("breeding") the fittest in some way. In other words,
any algorithm which imitates natural selection. See the Genetic
Algorithms FAQ.
GENIE: An AI combined
with an assembler or other universal
constructor, programmed to build anything the owner wishes. Sometimes
called a Santa Machine. This assumes a very high level of AI and nanotechnology.
GREAT FILTER, THE: The Great Filter
refers to the hypothetical mechanism(s) or principle(s) by which the
great number of potentially life-bearing planets get filtered out before
they have produced intelligent life forms that expand into cosmos. See
also the Fermi paradox
GREEN GOO: Nanomachines or bio-engineered
organisms used for population control of humans, either by governments
or eco-terrorist groups. Would most probably work by sterilizing people
through otherwise harmless infections. See Nick Szabo's essay Green
Goo -- Life in the Era of Humane Genocide.
GREY GOO: Self-replicating (von
Neumann) nanomachines spreading uncontrolably, building copies of
themselves using all available material. This is a commonly mentioned
nanotechnology disaster scenario,
although it is rather unlikely due to energy constraints and elemental
abundances. More probable disaster scenarios are the green
goo, golden goo and red
goo, khaki goo scenarios. As a protection
blue goo has been proposed.
GÖDEL'S THEOREM: (Gödel's incompleteness
theorem) Any proposed axiom set for arithmetic is either consistent
(no contradictions can be derived) or complete (it will say yes or no
to every arithmetic proposition). In other words, any axiom set strong
enough to include arithmetic which is complete will be inconsistent
(it will say yes and no to at least one question).
GOLDEN GOO: Another member of the grey
goo family of nanotechnology
disaster scenarios. The idea is to use nanomachines to filter gold from
seawater. If this process got out of control we would get piles of golden
goo (the "Wizard's Apprentice Problem"). This scenario demonstrates
the need of keeping populations of self-replicating machines under control;
it is much more likely than grey goo,
but also more manageable. [Originated on sci.nanotech 1996]
GUY FAWKES SCENARIO: If nanotechnology
becomes widely available, it might become trivial for anyone to committ
acts of terrorism (such as making nanomachines build a large amount
of explosives under government buildings a la Guy Fawkes). This would
either force strict control over nanotechnology (hard) or a decentralized
mode of organization.
Transhuman Page