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"C" stands for consciousness 108: Methane Burps & Tele Everything KMO welcomes Dennis M. Bushnell, chief scientist of the NASA Langley Research Center, to discuss climate change and ways of combating it that don't produce Big Brother on steroids. Mr. Bushnell also discusses the existential risks that could arise from the "simultaneous IT, bio, nano, quantum, energetics, double exponential tech revolution." Dennis M. Bushnell's Lifeboat Foundation bio: http://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.dennis.m.bushnellIn our conversation, Dennis Bushnell makes several references to and speaks very highly of a book by Peter D. Ward called Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future. Wow! Someone over on the Peak Oil News & Message Boards transcribed the whole interview. You can find it here: http://www.peakoil.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=42186Tags: climate change, exponential risks, singularity
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Vector: ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) prester_scottLink: http://angry-man.livejournal.com/307032.htmlangry_man writes: I think anyone who knows me already knows my thoughts on modifying my children, but for those of you not sure, I would be against modifying children. However, I have been forced to think deeply about my position due to the tantalizing promises of stopping terrible diseases in their tracks. How wonderful it would be to remove the negative aspects of our genes, and to give our children the leg up that we want them to have. In fact, as this technology is developed and as it begins to be used, it will be bioconservatives like myself who will be accused of cruelty and immorality; at least, that is what I predict (I'm dangerously close to creating a straw man argument here, but I think I might be safe since I'm just forming what I believe is to be a prediction of the future). The argument will run like this: We have this technology to stop these genetic diseases, to prevent children from suffering, but you will not use it, even if it means making your own child a martyr to your beliefs. You would rather let you child be ill, and possibly die, then admit that you are wrong. The most confrontational of the New Athiests, in this case Richard Dawkins, already demand: "How much do we regard children as being the property of their parents?" Dawkins asks. "It's one thing to say people should be free to believe whatever they like, but should they be free to impose their beliefs on their children? Is there something to be said for society stepping in? What about bringing up children to believe manifest falsehoods?" angry_man, as does just about anyone with a mind for these matters, delves into Ted Kaczinski's manifesto and comes up with this quote: ...if the elite consist of soft-hearted liberals, they may decide to play the role of good shepherds to the rest of the human race. They will see to it that everyone's physical needs are satisfied, that all children are raised under psychologically hygienic conditions, that everyone has a wholesome hobby to keep him busy, and that anyone who may become dissatisfied undergoes "treatment" to cure his "problem." Tags: religion, singularity
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In response to some feedback I received on the last C-Realm podcast: prester_scott: Well, okay, after reading and listening to all that (and also poking around in Wikipedia), I have a better idea of what the Singularity is.
I'm far from convinced that it will happen.
Robert Anton Wilson's illustration, its apparently intentional weirdness aside, is useful in explaining one big reason why I am not convinced. He looks at the history of technology and sees evidence of exponential growth. However, the very same evidence could also be pointing to hyperbolic and therefore asymptotic growth.kmo: I wonder if hyperbolic growth (or parabolic growth) has some indicator that we might observe here in the present that would distinguish it from exponential growth. In other words, we may be reaching a point where we don't have enough energy or intelligence to sustain the momentum that's propelling us up that curve, and "progress" will slow to allow everyone to catch up.I actually hope that something along those lines comes to pass, but I don’t believe that it will come to pass simply because I wish it so. The case hasn't been sufficiently made, at least not to me.Skeptics and nay Sayers welcome. A good science-fiction example of the hyperbolic outcome is the Star Wars universe.Ah, careful. You tread near a nest of vipers who will take you to task for crediting Star Wars as science fiction. See the SF/skiffy rift for details. I won’t regurgitate the whole she-bang except to say that the technology of the Star Wars universe reflects the fact that George Lucas had Joseph Campbell and Akira Kurasowa on the brain rather than speculations about the transformative effects of rapidly evolving technology and recursive feedback loops. …indeed, the abandonment of biology is the aspect of the Singularity I find least believable and palatable. Same here. I'll believe that a human soul can exist in a silicon body when I see it…How will you know when you've seen it? I don’t know what a silicon body animated by a human soul would look like. How would it differ from a very clever adaptive system that has learned to mimick the mannerisms of humans well enough to get people to see it as a living thing when it in fact posses no self-awareness and nothing approaching what philosophers of mind call intentionality? …and even then I won't be convinced that it is moral.Does it, as an abstract notion, seem prima facie immoral to you? Now, as a Christian, I can certainly relate to eschatology and apocalypse, and it is my opinion that what you call the Singularity and transhumanism do have analogues in our faith.Together with… In showing that these two visions are mutually exclusive, competing mythologies, I call your attention to the fact that the Singularity is itself a mythology. It is not a material fact, but a theory embraced by faith.Hence the 05 December 2000 C-Realm comic: ( Read more... )Tags: c-realm podcast, epistemological humility, singularity
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