[MD] Dawkins a Materialist (is watching?)

[Case]

Arlo,

Fictional super AIs are an interesting breed. Just as we project humanity on
the Gods and Goddesses of the past we seem to need to project onto the
intelligences of the future. Many times they do not come across as
sympathetic characters like Commander Data or Asimov's Millennium Man who by
virtue of their robotic form take on many of the burdens of human existence.
But then they were created with Asimov's four laws built in which made them
a bit more user friendly.

Disembodies AIs like the Pentagon computer in War Games or the AIs of SkyNet
from the Terminator are more like your Deus Ex example. But Orson Card has
Jane as an evolving intelligence who is very sympathetic in Ender's Game.
Agent Smith of the Matrix was sort of disembodied and embodied at the same
time. His monolog in the first Matrix about hating the stench of humanity
and his comparison of humans to viruses is a classic.

Oddly enough the really exciting work in AI is being done in computer games
where players play against computer opponents. In some earlier versions the
playing style of the computer was fairly easy to figure out and defeat. If
you could survive the initial "rush" of opposition you could take more time
planning your ultimate victory. Newer AIs have the ability to assess the
human's playing style and adapt strategy to match, which is a bit harder to
beat.

In RPGs players typically cooperate against computer opponents. But many
have zones or arenas where player play against each other. World of Warcraft
builds this into the game in the form of team based competition so it have
the cooperative aspects of the RPG and the squad based strategy of the First
Person Shooter.

But any gamer will tell you it is harder to play against real players. Even
when Kasperov lost a match to Big Blue he learned enough about the AI's
playing style to beat it in several rematches.

Case