31/3
With fully distributed publishing anyone, even someone as GUInept as I, may place anything into the memepool. This dis-concentration gives us for the first time the opportunity to really investigate each other's nature in all it's glorious diversity and commonality. Can we move beyond
Media: The Lean, Mean, Meme Machine?
"Information gathering on the Web is a radical
improvement in meme transference over contemporary media in
that the brain is highly receptive to every meme along the
trajectory. The more novel the information we place on the
Web, the larger our collective understanding will become." |
Chris Lucas questions fundamental assumptions concerning Quality of Life.
| "Many of our essays and the complexity ideas behind them relate to the re-evaluation of our thought
patterns, of our way of treating the world. In essence this means a move from a static mechanical
and materialistic perception of reality to an organic multilevel perception of a dynamic and changing
reality." |
David Jay Brown was able to draw out a few mysteries in this interview, such as what was in the tank in the corner, and what was the secret to his courage and optimism.
Timothy Leary: A Final Visit
"How would you like to be remembered?
Timothy Leary: Everybody gets the Timothy Leary that they deserve." |
I have mirrored a 1993 article from The Independant on Sunday, a rather staid "quality" nwspaper. A psychedelic trip up the ladder of
evolution details a lecture given by Terrance McKenna.
| "I certainly do not think of myself as a
radical. So I was worried because nearly everything he said seemed to make sense." | 30/3
The prologue to the on line book The Psilocybin Solution sets the stage for a Prelude to a Paradigm Shift.
| "It is my contention throughout this book that naturally occurring entheogenic plants and fungi are
indeed the key to solving the twin mysteries of consciousness and reality. Once ingested, they are
intimately involved with the bridge between consciousness and the world around us." |
I've found the supreme rationalization for why I haven't had sex in some years; strokes my, um, ego and gives me an, um, excuse at the same time.
| "For a man to whom the sexual-political character of his sexual partners matters, he is increasing-ly faced with a choice between abandoning his principles and abandoning his sex life. A man of good character is hard to find, as anyone who has looked can tell you." |
In the final analysis it is relationship and not control, that will define our interaction with technology. How identity will fare in this common intellisphere is the subject of Is Human Identity an Artifact?.
| "Emphasizing the
circularity of the use of culture as a device for explaining human behavior, he recalls
Clifford Geertz's observation that it is a mistake to interpret the way a group of human
beings behaves as an expression of their culture while defining the culture as the way in
which they behave." | 29/3
John G. Cramer gives Asimov and Sagan a run for the money in being able to take leading-edge subject matter and make it understandable for lay people. Quantum Telephones to Other Universes, to
Times Past is a great summary of current thinking in quantum mechanics.
For a complete summation of John G. Cramer's own Transactional Theory of Quantum Mechanics, this is straight from the angel's mouth.
Wargasm is a novel by Ben Goertzel that plunges deeply into the vagina of truth, wherein is conceived something truly novel.
| "Ideas fuck me, eat me, talk to me; the abstract world to me is realer than that of you people. This makes me the only real mathematician. My life is higher mathematics of the spirit." |
On the Nature of Consciousness: a
Scientific Hypothesis by Wim Rietdijk, D.Sci. argues that consciousness is inherent, fundamental, integrated, non-local, and intentional.
| "Wouldn't it be strange if the world were
coherent up to magnificence, but too
"vacuous" - unconscious - to realize it and
to have wanted it so?" | 28/3
Frequently Encountered Criticisms in
Evolution vs. Creationism: Revised and
Expanded brings the light of reason to every aspect of this ridiculously anti-Platonic discourse.
| "Note that, as far as some creationists are concerned,
"evolution" includes much more than just evolutionary biology - creationist criticisms can extend to
much of geology, paleontology, physics, cosmology, astronomy, and numerous other areas of
scientific inquiry. This list is not nearly as complete or rigorous as it could be, but I hope it will help
as a useful initiation for beginners, and perhaps a reference for more experienced participants." |
For the real dope on the information available to the same governments that strongly proscribe it's use, attend the
Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana. I think that if they wanted to they could standardize on certain strains of B.C. Hydro; that's what most patients are using anyway.
| "Some of the seeming inconsistency or uncertainty in scientific reports
describing the clinical pharmacology of marijuana results from the inherently variable potency
of the plant material used in research studies. Inadequate control over drug dose when
researching the effects of smoked and oral marijuana, together with the use of research
subjects who vary greatly in their past experience with marijuana, contribute differing accounts
of what marijuana does or does not do." |
Reaching for the cognitive stars, Ideonomy finds beauty in the study of study. I'm trying to find the common ground with meme theory and all I keep visualizing is that snake swallowing it's tail.
| "The short but most exact definition of ideonomy is the science of ideas. By a longer
definition, it is the pure and applied science of ideas and their laws, and of the use of
same to describe, generate, investigate, or otherwise treat all possible ideas related to any
subject, problem, thing, or other idea." |
Our friendly neighborhood Carbon Chauvinist wonders and voices concerns about the Departure of the Body Snatchers.
| "I fear that in their desire to fly up to the
high frontier they may very well take Earth down with them. They are
among us already, I fear, urging our excarnation, seeking to convince us
that we should not be "trapped in old concepts" like the need for bodies
and planetary homes. I have seen them." | 27/3
An essay of tragic beauty, Faith and Fraud shows us as we are, with wonderful fallible humanness and transhuman potential.
"Seeing
with humility, curiosity and fresh eyes was once the main
point of science. But today it is often a different story. As
the scientific enterprise has been bent toward exploitation,
institutionalization, hyperspecialization and new orthodoxy,
it has increasingly preoccupied itself with disconnected
facts in a spiritual, psychological, social and ecological
vacuum."
Daniel Drasin |
Graham Oppy takes Frank Tipler and his Physics of Immortality very seriously in this critical analysis. By uncovering the pseudo-scientific streams of consciousness that Tipler pours into his book he reveals Physics for the largely speculative fiction it is. This is the kind of layman's refutation that could come as an attachment to the original; lest we take the Omega Point Theory, and Tipler, too seriously.
In the shorter term we are coming in for a landing and must choose whether it will be a hard or soft one. What Chris King, of the Mathematics Department, University of Auckland, is talking about is Avoiding Genetic Holocaust.
| "Science has great value as a detailed description of reality founded on the sceptical
principle, but science has nil net ethical content. It is the description of how, not why, or what
humanity should do. For every enlightened ecologist there is an unscrupulous genetic engineer
working for a multinational corporation, so all the work many enlightened scientists are trying to do is
simultaneously being offset by other scientists, by exploitive corporate practices, government
expediency and complacency and by poverty-stricken migrant populations." |
If you have ever run ad supported software and decided for any reason, besides the obvious, to remove it, you've been left a present on your drive. To read all the sordid perhaps-facts the OptOut website digs deep. To just do a quick download of the 'recommended' freeware (30k) you can skip the dirt and get the cleaner at this Cnet page.
| "I witnessed this in several cases
of first-time hosting application installation where the Aureate system
appeared to be missing. But instead it was running with full stealth,
collecting data and communicating with its remote servers without
ever first presenting its demographics questionnaire. Since each user is
"branded" with a unique user ID, they can collect and associate
demographics at any later time." | 26/3
In order to exercise our right to free speech we must cultivate the ability to do so. Stephen Stockwell examines and enquires 'Retooling rhetoric: Has free speech gone
the way of the free lunch?', and discovers that there may be serious impediments to a general understanding of the medial process.
| "To be effective political players, to
give vent to their free speech in order to make democracy work, citizens must have the skills to play
the media game." |
The major player in the Canadian media megalopoly is Conrad Black, recently disabused of a Title from The Queen by our Petulant Prime Minister. Mr. Black is also a memeber of the Trilateral Commission.
I would be afraid to look at a Mind Map of certain things, like Windows 95. Nevertheless, I'm going to try this technique to see if I can get more productive without working any harder, which would be against everything I sit for. There's free mind mapping software here too.
Shawn Eyer writes a definitive account of Psychedelic Effects
and the Eleusinian Mysteries. I think that it is of the profoundest urgency that we accept and come to resolution with our entheogenic history. Alcohol is great for an historical northern people that require vast calories in winter, but the entheogens have, I believe, been co-incidental with our evolutionary development.
| "The model expressed by R. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann and Carl Ruck,
must therefore be taken seriously. Their theory is perhaps the first truly realistic explanation for
the most-documented aspect of the sacred mysteries: their profound, beneficial and lasting effects
upon the millions of initiates who, at one time or another, stood enraptured on the steps of the
torch-lit Telesterion." | 25/3
I can understand why the author of this little essay concerning books about psychedelics and demystifying Christianity pulled the page. Ah, Google to the rescue-cache.
| "Thus Jesus is the figurehead, model, and leader of the drug law
reformers, and drug law reform is the very essence of the most sincere, informed, and insightful
followers of Jesus." |
Far more effective than a loaded gun at ensuring our freedom is a loaded mind. So load up on The Ozimandias Collective's Field Guide to Direct Action, and be properly prepared. Mind you, these measures are weapons, to be used only in the direst of circumstance. You want to do what to that tree in the back yard?? But it's in my yard. Hmm, let me see that chainsaw for a minute...I'll, um, sharpen it up for ya...
Thinking Aloud Productions presents Staying Alive: The Psychology of Human Survival, With Roger Walsh, M.D.
| "For the
first time in human history each and every one of the threats we're facing to human
survival -- whether it be nuclear weapons or overpopulation or starvation or
degradation of our environment -- each and every one of these is human-caused,
which means it stems from our behavior, from our ways of thinking and acting and
perceiving, and is ultimately traceable to the psychological forces within us and
between us." |
Control Engineering Online has a look at whether the biological theory of punctuated equilibrium (I love the nickname, 'Punk Eek') can be applied to business and technological evolution. Here We Go Again also has a great graphical representation of Punk Eek that is well worth the slowish load.
| "I envision a plant floor that mimics Internet/intranets. Where networks connect intelligent specialized servers with very focused assignments and machines collaborate to produce a product. Where on-line machine performance is available to anyone with a browser and where business information is shared without concern as to source or destination platforms." | 24/3
From the Canadian Medical Association's Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, here is Developmental pharmacodynamics: implications for child and adolescent psychopharmacology. Whew. The large numbers of still-growing people using SSRI's and similar neurochemical adjusters may bode future ill.
| "Serotonergic neuroreceptors acquire different developmental
functions as the organism matures; there are regional and
receptor subtype specificities, the functions of which change
during maturation." |
Coming soon to a forest near me, is a six month run of the absolute reality (AR) game Ursus Arctos. Awe, reverence, fear, and a need to change underwear are the human cognitive responses to a face to face meeting of mind and mass. Perhaps if I understood The Cognitive Complexity of the Grizzly Bear, I could survive to breed another year.
| "The bear may be as
complex or even more complex than some primates. Scientists' own
thinking may have to become more complex, to keep up with the bear." |
Putting 'Errors' In Perspective takes an historical view and points out that mistakes can be a valuable tool. I think Gregor Mendel erred in his choice of spectacles.
| "Errors of observation and
interpretation inevitably creep in, and
corrections must be made. But it's
difficult to overcome well-established
maps of science drawn by
well-established scientists." |
Z Magazine hosts a bevvy of insightful correspondence such as this Interview with Matthew Knoester of the Colombia Support Network. We of the civilized west can no longer colonize by occupation but we will fight, to their very death, for their souls.
| "I spoke to Matthew in early March, just as the House was about to pass
a bill for over $1 billion in aid to Colombia to fight both the war on
drugs and the war on the guerillas." |
An anthropology of reconciliation is called for by Sheldon R. Isenberg and Gene R. Thursby in the transcritical essay A Perennial Philosophy Perspective
on Richard Rorty's Neo-Pragmatism.
| "This kind of anthropology provides the possibility of breakthrough, of escape from
the determinism of positivism as well as from the indeterminism of hermeneutics
-- without neglecting the usefulness of each at its own level of inquiry." | 23/3
In the interests of providing a voice to those who have worked on, and had their lives defined by the war on ourselves, here is a remarkable essay by a retired DEA agent. Fight Back: A Solution Between Prohibition and Legalization suggests a "take back the neighborhood" approach, combined with targeting buyers for treatment. I suppose it's a good sign that such a fully acculturated individual could be half right.
| "Here's the equation: Number of Potential Drug Dealers - plus - World's Potential
Source Countries -divided by - Number of Narcotic Officers & Available Budget
-multiplied by - Constitutional Legal Process to Arrest and/or Seize -equals: Total
Absurdity of US Drug War Policy." |
America, and Canada to some degree, have adopted the "disease concept" of substance over-use as promulgated by Alcoholics Anonymous, forcing those convicted of social offence to attend (re)indoctrination. Bill Wilson's problem-child, and its offshoots, may just be the single most dangerous hurdle that a suffering soul has to jump on the way to personal re-integration. Alcoholics Anonymous: Of Course It's a Cult! opens the sardine can wide and shows us the inrepugnable fishy facts, as well as the insideous rot contained within.
| "The more seriously people take them (the twelve steps), the weirder they become, in comparison to their pre-cult
personalities. They also appear more inclined to mistreat their fellow beings -- all in the name of
treatment or recovery, of course. One caller likened the AA cult indoctrination to vampirism, in
which, once-bitten, one will go on to bite others." |
I am not a user of alcohol anymore, finding other more personally fulfilling states agree better with my temperment. Also my wife Mary Jane isn't into three-way relationships. Here is the number that would make Scientology accountants drool. 100%. That's all of us that are within the purview of AA's percieved need for treatment. Hey, if you deny that you need to examine your life in this way, you're just 'in denial'; of course. Robert Westermeyer, Ph.D. asks: Addiction Treatment:
What on Earth Are We Doing?
| "Unfortunately (and quite curiously) most of the advancements in this area have not
made it out of the Ivory tower. There are volumes of research in this area, most of
which are not applied in clinical settings. This inequity has always ailed the field of
psychology and in many ways appears to be singular to it. Research and clinical
practice are often on opposite sides of the fence." |
Reading this analysis by Richard Cowan on the fiftieth anniversary of George Orwell's prescient tome caused me to shudder with comprehension at the weight of cultural insanity bearing down on those who dare....
| "In 1984 everyone was constantly reminded that "Big Brother
Is Watching You." Today, such a statement would be
offensive, in large part thanks to Orwell. Instead, people are
being encouraged, or rather frightened, into wanting Big
Brother to watch them. How is this being done? Through fear
and hatred." | 22/3
Nature's vacuum cleaners, but they don't do dust. Oh well, I live with two and have learned much. Like barbeque potato chips are not food, but cat feces is a delicacy. Like if you want to sniff a lady's crotch, just stink (sic) your honker right in there. Like, dogs are smart, man.
| "Csányi even goes so far as to compare canine attachment
with human love--empathy incarnate. Masson believes that
dogs could teach us a thing or two about love and, indeed,
may already have done so." |
Playing by Nature's Paradigm:
Systems Science and the Grateful Dead
| "It is my belief that the band (and others of their generation) did their best to live
less by the laws of Western civilization and more by the natural ways of the Universe-- what we
might call Nature's Paradigm." |
Decisions we make now will reverberate for generations, and may indeed define our evolution. Privacy for individuals is essential, as no pragmatic observer could envision a truly transparent, and therefore utterly tolerant, society. Should corporations enjoy the same right to complete privacy? What about our government? Is total privacy conducive to the needed trust for peace, or is it the divide that will allow GlobalCorp to conquer us all? Who Wants Privacy?
Am I writing this to or for you? I prefer to think our communicative embrace as one completed act. I think I need to get out more!
Consumptive Writing (A Fatal Strategy) by Matthew Levy.
| "At one time, I accepted the process paradigm as an invaluable escape from product-based
pedagogy; however, now I realize that it is thinking in terms of an opposition between process and
product that kills invention." |
From the venerable pages of Quantum Approaches to Consciousness listserver, D. G. Chakalov postulates Loop Quantum Teleportation. Sir Chakalov also has an immense site dedicated to The Physics of the Brain. There's a great picture of a brain in all it's g(l)ory on the splash page.
| "I suspect that quantum computation may require sustained superposition
of states during the operation (or 'lifetime') of a quantum computer,
but then I'm afraid that no one should ever touch that quantum PC. To
clarify the issue, I will suggest a thought experiment called 'loop
quantum teleportation'." | 21/3
Where I live it is prudent to have a healthy fear of grizzly bears. Where you live it may be equally prudent to be wary of the hunters of the urban forest. But I don't think I would walk in the Yukon bush in the summer if the news broadcasts were full of bears "disemboweling and eating human" stories. Skeptical Enquirer reviews The Culture of Fear:
Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things
by Barry Glassner.
Summerhill School was a place of my dreams as a child. Stuck in the factory-school culture of Western education and having been entheogenically awakened (giving away my age this was 1970), it was torturous to know what could be but wouldn't.
| "Summerhill children are coming to the House of Commons, on
15th and 16th March, to have their voices heard. The children are
angry that they have not been listened to. The process that is
threatening to close their school, the oldest children's
democracy in the world, has ignored the children's voices." |
If a child watches 4 hours of TV a day, that would be about 1 hour of commercials as well as sundry product tie-ins and products that are shows. Now if I take my child and spend 5 minutes every day going over Consumer Angst, or similar material, I'd probably be branded as a crank.
| "It is very likely that most of your dissatisfactions are a carefully engineered
preparation for consumerism. So examine your dissatisfactions – keep only those
that, if discarded, might kill you. Toss the rest." |
Spider Robinson has moved His Columnship from the peerless (ha!) Globe Conglomupire to the saner spacean of Galaxy, where may be found the never lost question to the answer "we just hate him!".
| "If we had (opted for an alternative OS), that
system might now be the de facto world standard instead of Windows. We
did not, in short, have to settle for 32-bit extensions and a graphical shell
for a 16-bit patch to an 8-bit operating system originally coded for a 4-bit
microprocessor, written by a 2-bit company that can't stand 1-bit of
competition." | 20/3
Lest it be thought that the primary focus in my life is altered states of consciousness, it is not. I see all consciousness as an altered state (erk). I will now recognize the compulsive error of my webloggin' ways and go about fulfilling the rest of this 'blog's stated dedication. The first and prime among these is freedom, and here is a site probably without peer in ternetland. The Freedom Forum Online seems to have contained freedom without constraint.
Whether you have heard of David Foster or not, you are probably aware of his argument that the development of life on earth is so improbable that it must have been divinely ordained. Richard Carrier writes a comprehensive review of Foster's work; Bad Science, Worse Philosophy.
| "Although there are a few scientific mistakes that are appalling, even more disappointing is the logic of Foster's arguments, and how his persistent logic-chopping refutes itself. What you read here may in fact be useful not just for addressing those who cite Foster, by name or anonymously, but by all those who attempt to make similar arguments. It may also be educational in itself, as Foster's fallacies make excellent textbook examples that would be quite useful in any logic or philosophy class." |
Do we really need to take instruction from a 308 year old treatise by John Locke? Yes, ask any factory-school teacher about Some Thoughts Concerning Education and they'll either sigh or get defensive.
| "I myself have been consulted of late by so many, who profess themselves at a loss how to breed their children, and the early corruption of youth is now become so general a
complaint, that he cannot be thought wholly impertinent, who brings the consideration
of this matter on the stage, and offers something, if it be but to excite others, or afford
matter of correction: for errors in education should be less indulg'd than any." |
I don't know how I missed Quantum Vibe at Salon. Ah, it was summertime and the livin' was easy. Anyway, here in all it's news-to-me glory is a report of the meeting of 384 theoretical physicists all in one place. We're all still here so they must have been below critical mass.
Thanks to Sir Dave and the Knights of Manilla a soon to be flourishing endeavor will appear at http://abuddha.weblogs.com. Hmm, me bwain hurwts!
19/3
Although presented some days early, I have never been one for temporal location. The Pliocene Pussycat Theory postulates that the survival of our particular branch of homonid was enhanced, or indeed made possible by Felis catus.
| "I have already demonstrated how australopithecines could have met their food needs
by use of the cat and how they could have used cats for defense, now I will show
how they could have used cats for night time shelter." | Tyrone Slothrop Nom-de-Plume avails us of his wisdom, and does not spare the critisism.
As this comes from a newsgroup, you will need to scroll down a bit to get to the soul of this remarkable review of PIKHAL, by Alexander Shulgin.
| "The collection of chemical tools he (Shulgin) has developed make
possible the dissection of features of the human mind that can not be
explored in animal studies. The physical structures of the brain,
activated by phenethylamines, which support the unique features of the
human psyche, may have no counterpart in non-human animals." |
If you are only going to read one on-line book this year, make it this one. From the prologue by Satanislav Grof to the epilogue by Alexander Shulgin, this is a text of intelligent inquiry. The courage of these psychonauts is evident throughout The Secret Chief, by Myron Stolaroff.
"Nothing would have pleased Jacob more than to know that the telling of
his story has helped our society understand that there are powerful tools
available for self realization - that vast new possibilities in life await us
when we take on the responsibility of making these new tools available
and learn how to use them. We will then recognize Jacob as a true pioneer
and dedicated servant of humanity."
"It is certainly wise to obey the
laws if our primary concern is personal safety and comfort. However, it
often happens that in retrospect, history places higher value on those
individuals who violated questionable laws of their time because of
foresight and high moral principles than those who had issued them for
wrong reasons."
Stan Grof, M.D. | 18/3
An interesting long term follow-up of Dr. Leary's Concord Prison Experiment was performed by Ralph Metzner, Ph.D., and he recommends further study. I suggest that prison is so dehumanizing an environment that such studies are meaningless. It's hard for the scientist to be objective when in a subjective hell, nigh impossible for the prisoner to have a positive subjective experience when in an objective hell.
| "A special meeting was arranged at
which the author of this paper brought the two subjects willing to be
interviewed to the home of Leary for an emotional reunion and
tape-recorded interview. The meeting took place on January 20, 1996,
just several months before Leary died." |
I always wanted a recipe for Indian bhang. Now I just need to be able to afford to make it.
In what will be a continueing quest for methods of harm reduction and happiness enhancement, here is the simplest vaporizer idea I've yet seen. Eliminate waste, dive with a buddy; wear helmets.
Now, if you have engineering aspirations you may wish to attempt the DeathStar, though I think when completed I would rename it...Mary...or Jane; or Blissotron.
Before you run right off to scan, chortle and then lament the DEA's Intelligence Reports of drug prevalence and use in America, remember that every click to them, especially from a seditious site like this, may brand you as a national threat. Just thought I'd let you know (ironic laughter fading to inexpressible melancholy).
| "The mental effects most commonly associated with LSD use, particularly at high doses, are visual
images or hallucinations, often involving simulated philosophical or religious connotations. It is this
artificial imagery which has been advocated erroneously as providing true psychological insight and
benefit." (my italics) |
Martin Gardner writes an articulate, fierce rebuttal of memetics in general and Susan Blackmore's take on it in particular. Kilroy Was Here sides with Gould's assesment that memes are "meaningless metaphors".
| "Is memetics a misguided
attempt on the part of behavioral scientists to imitate
genetics with its gene units and physics with its elementary
particles? In a few years we may know." | 17/3
W. David Kubiak has been there, lived in the trenches of corporatism, and survived. We are indeed fortunate as he has brought us Big Medicine 2000, A Broad Spectrum Antidote
to Corporate Pathology.
| "The key political issue is simply, "Why should vast,
aggressively anti-democratic hierarchic bodies be allowed
any political role whatever in a democratic society, let
alone predominant power?" " |
Also from the quill of Sri Kubiak is an essay that is of such grand scale, and yet so exudes the essence of simplicity, that I promptly set cursor to screen and wrote him. As generous in humorility as he is in etymological wisdom, I strongly recommend So You Want To Be An Orthodoctor? Three Big Body Revelations and A Little Heresy To Go.
I will leave any kind of qualitative review of Innovism: A Primer to you Dear Reader, except to observe that controlled novelty is an oxymoron.
| "It does not, however, generally prescribe any particular
course of action for a particular circumstance. Instead, it provides guidelines for evaluating the
relative merits of available courses of action, and proscribes certain acts classified as crimes." |
In a well scripted primer on sociobiology, Maia Szalavitz examines women's prominent role in this science.
| "...opponents of evolutionary psychology
have continued to caricature the field as describing
all men as rapacious and marriage-phobic while
women remain coy and virginal. But once again,
the plot thickens. First, marriage offers at least as
much to men as it does to women." |
In the first chapter of her book Co-Creative Science, Machaelle Small Wright brings us out of the grey of scientific orthodoxy and into the neuro-crystaline light of Changing How We Perceive Nature.
16/3
Anna Cooper writes an insightful review of Christopher Dewdney's Last Flesh: Life in the Transhuman Era. I agree with her that transhumanism and the movement toward a transhuman era must be clearly distinguished; a process is not an ism.
In A Series of Educated Guesses, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky does a Singularity Analysis. The elimination of competitiveness, evolution, macroscopic physics and game theory are predicted, but this essay is really a part of a grand discourse, amply linked, that flourishes within the transhumanist and extropian vision.
| "A basketball in flight uses septillions of
quantum-computing elements to perform a simple integral. And once the system collapses
into a simulated basketball plus an octillion teraflops, it probably won't revert to the previous
method. The system has collapsed to a lower energy state." |
Taking the more restrained and historically contextualized view is Evolution and the Transcendence of Mind, by Theodore Roszak. Despite my increasingly deluded-with-age self-image as a radical, I think I agree that the "magic" of biology is irreproducible; I see a more human than Borg future.
| "After all, it is the
human mind that invents artificial ones (as much for the fun as for the utility of it) and
then has room left over to defy the logic or grow bored with their predictable
correctness. That "room" is the evolutionary margin of life still waiting to be explored.
What computers can do represents so many routinized mental functions we can now
delegate and slough off as we move forward to new ground. The machines are behind
us, not ahead." |
Making the assumption that there is flood and blush in our future, a pharmacology of designer consciousness, perhaps to match our shoes, is a certainty. My subcutaneously inserted medipumps (sims) will be self-actuated with a simple secret code on my MacPal2010. Ensuring ideal physiological balance for the requested brain-state, within seconds painful angst becomes creative endeavor, an orgasm a subjective hour. Our reach back for an Edenic state is immediately ahead.Medicines by Design: The Biological Revolution in Pharmacology
| |
