Is Automation possible?

Consider that today we have factories where cars are assembled completely by robots.

What is proposed in this project is not Artificial Intelligence (AI), but simply the programming of heuristic knowledge. These machines will be unable to function outside of their designed domain. We are not proposing anything with intelligence, just something with a very big and complex program controlling it.

Consider that we can mechanise anything, but that it is hugely expensive to do so.

Consider that the major reason we do not mechanise many areas is that technology in those areas is changing so fast that it is not economic to automate.

We believe the advantages of freezing technology at a certain point, to create the sort of exponential growth we require, is worth the effort.

Certainly diverting intellectual effort from the cutting edge will slow the pace of new development (at least for the life of this project), and the rewards are well worth the costs.

Automation on this scale is not a simple process. It is the single largest software project yet conceived - and it is well worth the effort and the delay in new technology development.

We believe the answer to the question is an unequivocal YES!