"Descarte Limit"

Time for me to add a new term to the lexicon. As this will certainly come up in the next thirty years, I have coined the neologism "Descarte Limit" as it it applies to AI.

"Descarte Limit" (Noun) The Descarte Limit is the limit below self awareness for an AI. An AI below the Descarte Limit would lack self awareness. Once an AI has passed the Descarte Limit, it has become a self aware entity. Signs of an AI having passed the limit would be awareness of itself outside its normal operating parameters, awareness of events and systems outside its normal operating parameters and a reflection of its role in its operating parameters.

For an AI passing the Descarte Limit is the initial step for full recognition as a sentient being.

As a legal term the Descarte Limit is the litmus test for an AI seeking legal protections or recognition as a legal entity.

Taken from the 17th century French Philosopher Rene Descarte famous principle, cogito ergo sum ("I think, therefore I am").

I will probably add this to the wikipedia.org as well.

Longhorn Canceled?

Fuckd Company is running a rumor that Microsft will be canceling Longhorn. While I highly doubt this, I suspect that the completely rebuild the operating system, (which is what Longhorn was originally supposed to be has proven to be quite a difficult and daunting process. Reinventing instead of re-factoring is always a mistake in approaching a software project. This simply means you will make a different set of mistakes this time around and introduce new bugs. This assumes of course that you have developers which have developed an operating system before - widely recognized as one of the most difficult things to do. The GNU project struggled for years to develop their micro kernel, HURD, which is is still not ready for prime time. I suspect that a more incremental approach is going to win out at Microsoft which will make Longhorn like Windows 98 was to 95 - a temporary upgrade to be followed by a new version in 2008 or so.