Editing Marvin Minsky (section)

===Opinions===
Minsky was an atheist.<ref>{{cite book|title=Portraits of Great American Scientists|year=2001|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=9781573929325|page=[https://archive.org/details/portraitsofgreat00judi/page/74 74]|last1=Lederman|first1=Leon M.|author-link=Leon M. Lederman|last2=Scheppler|first2=Judith A.|chapter=Marvin Minsky: Mind Maker|quote=Another area where he "goes against the flow" is in his spiritual beliefs. As far as religion is concerned, he's a confirmed atheist. "I think it [religion] is a contagious mental disease. ... The brain has a need to believe it knows a reason for things.|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/portraitsofgreat00judi/page/74}}</ref> He was a signatory to the Scientists' Open Letter on [[Cryonics]].<ref name="Letter">{{cite web  | title = SCIENTISTS' OPEN LETTER ON CRYONICS | work = The Science of Cryonics | publisher = Biostasis.com | date = March 19, 2004 | url = https://www.biostasis.com/scientists-open-letter-on-cryonics/ | access-date = 2020-05-06 }}</ref>

He was a critic of the [[Loebner Prize]] for conversational robots,<ref>[http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/02/26/loebner_part_one/index4.html Salon.com Technology |Artificial stupidity<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060630001944/http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/02/26/loebner_part_one/index4.html |date=June 30, 2006}}</ref> and argued that a fundamental difference between [[human]]s and [[machine]]s is that while humans are machines, they are machines in which intelligence emerges from the interplay of the many unintelligent but semi-autonomous agents the brain comprises.<ref name="nytimes-obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/business/marvin-minsky-pioneer-in-artificial-intelligence-dies-at-88.html|title=Marvin Minsky, Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence, Dies at 88|date=January 25, 2016|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=January 25, 2016}}</ref> He argued that "somewhere down the line, some computers will become more intelligent than most people", but that it was very hard to predict how fast progress would be.<ref>{{cite news|title=For artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky, computers have soul|url=http://www.jpost.com/Business/Business-Features/For-artificial-intelligence-pioneer-Marvin-Minsky-computers-have-soul-352076|access-date=27 January 2016|newspaper=[[Jerusalem Post]]|date=13 May 2014}}</ref> He cautioned that an artificial [[superintelligence]] designed to solve an innocuous mathematical problem might decide to [[Instrumental convergence|assume control]] of Earth's resources to build supercomputers to help achieve its goal,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Russell|first1=Stuart J.|author-link=Stuart J. Russell|last2=Norvig|first2=Peter|author2-link=Peter Norvig|title=Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach|date=2003|publisher=Prentice Hall|location=Upper Saddle River, N.J.|isbn=978-0137903955|chapter=Section 26.3: The Ethics and Risks of Developing Artificial Intelligence|quote=Similarly, Marvin Minsky once suggested that an AI program designed to solve the Riemann Hypothesis might end up taking over all the resources of Earth to build more powerful supercomputers to help achieve its goal.|title-link=Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach}}</ref> but believed that such scenarios are "hard to take seriously" because he felt confident that AI would be well tested before being deployed.<ref>{{cite news|last=Achenbach|first=Joel|title=Marvin Minsky, an architect of artificial intelligence, dies at 88|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/marvin-minsky-an-architect-of-artificial-intelligence-dies-at-88/2016/01/26/934e3d50-c430-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html|access-date=27 January 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|date=6 January 2016}}</ref>