X-Message-Number: 27822
From: "IGGY & Svetlana" <>
Subject: Man today vs. man/machine combo tomorrow
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2006 15:56:35 -0500
For those interested in "man vs. machine" issues as well as health and life
extension - this article below and the video called "Building Gods" at
www.video.google.com are a must to watch. You have to download the Google
video player and then download the show - do the search by the title
"Building Gods."
I follow on this whole "transhuman/posthuman/cyborg/life extension/mind
uploading/Matrix" thing rather closely and I was completely floored by about
10 ideas that I have never thought about or encountered. One of them being
that "normal now" humans can be a subspecies of humans who may be considered
by futuristic "cyborg" people nothing but a nuisance - like a cow who makes
some sounds but you just ignore it. This was said in terms of technological
advances like brain/computer implants, telepathic transfer of thought and
communication which is fairly close already technologically. A scientist who
had computer electrodes implanted into his hand was showing off how he
controls lamps on and off and a wheel chair.
And can you realistically stop someone who uses his own money and talents to
upgrade himself and be way above competition in memory, comprehension,
retention, working hours or strength? - the freedom of speech and expression
alone will carry this through without any problems as I see it in any
western country. If this doesn't work, then there are neutral waters at
seas where a ship can be chartered and nobody can stop this kind of
development unless someone authorizes an air strike on it - we know this
happens :o)
The movie is about 1hr 20 min and is shot in a totally futuristic mode with
white background - nothing like I've seen before. Highly recommended.
A word of warning - religious people can find this offensive, because
parallels are drawn with human intellect going beyond what they believe only
God is capable of, and where humans can go to the point of bypassing gods
and manipulating Universe like in a Petre dish, thus becoming Gods as see in
the old time.
But if you look at it, it's not that far away from the realm of logic - the
"dumb and illiterate" people 2,000+ years ago can only draw one conclusion
when they saw an alien space ship for instance - a chariot of fire, they had
no knowledge of where even to start with this.
Jesus resurrection? - we now are hearing about The Bible of Judas - where he
and Jesus struck a deal to give him up. Just recently heard about another
development - Jesus and Pilat may have a deal that he'll be taken from the
cross after several hours instead of days after an anesthetic was applied to
lessen the pain.
What if Jesus was an alien or a super human from the future who traveled in
the past on orders of the human advanced civilization of the future through
time and brought the "simple abridged Cliff notes" to the dark masses of
humanity on how to behave?
More questions than answers...
Enjoy the journey!
*******************************
Source:
http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2006/04/05/news/news04.txt
man vs. machine
By Jasmine Michaelson
USU prof: robots will dominate, and countdown is underway
The division between the two parties will become so heated that
assassinations and intrigue will culminate with a war unlike any the
world has ever seen. The number of fatalities will be so high that
the event will be referred to as "gigadeath."
De Garis' 2005 book "The Artilect War: Cosmists vs. Terrans: A
Bitter Controversy Concerning Whether Humanity Should Build Godlike
Massively Intelligent Machines" reads a lot like the premise for a
sci-fi summer blockbuster. But de Garis isn't just musing.
"I will try to persuade you that it is not science fiction, and that
strong reasons exist to compel humanity to believe ...," he says in
the introduction of "The Artilect War."
De Garis, a computer science and physics professor with
undergraduate degrees in applied mathematics and theoretical physics
and a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence, says everything hinges on
the advancement of nanotechnology (microscopic technology). It's in
its beginning stages now, but nowhere near where it needs to be to
aid in the development of what is known as "strong artificial
intelligence."
De Garis predicts that in about 20 years nanotechnology will have
developed to the point that "nanots" (nano-scale robots) and other
nano-scale tools will be used to help scientists learn more about
the human brain.
"I expect an explosion of new knowledge," de Garis
said. "Neuroscience will just blossom."
The principles gleaned through this hyper-detailed study of the
brain will then be applied to engineering, at which point the "brain-
based industry" will boom. Rudimentary artificial intelligence will
become available to the public in varying forms. Everyone will want
AI robots and technologies around to perform everyday tasks.
"There will be robots who walk the dog, robots who get the paper -
if we still use papers by then. There will be conversation robots,
sex robots," de Garis said.
Soon after, he says, people will begin to notice the intelligence
gap closing between humans and "artilects" (a de Garis-coined term).
"People will say, `How smart are we going to let these things get?'"
he said.
As the intelligence of artilects continues to grow exponentially, a
line in the sand will be drawn.
"When it starts becoming real, that's when passions will rise," he
said.
Two "bitterly opposed" parties will rise and the conflict, he says
will end in unfathomable violence.
"It will be the greatest witch hunt humanity's ever known," de Garis
said last week in his Old Main office, "because the stake is so
high: survival of the human species."
He also thinks a third smaller party will emerge: the Cyborgians,
who, instead of looking at the issue as "man versus machine," will
want to incorporate artificial intelligence into their own bodies
and brains - becoming, themselves, cybernetic organisms, "cyborgs"
or, in essence, artilects.
De Garis says he considers himself a Cosmist (though not 100
percent), and admits in the introduction of his book, "The prospect
of building godlike creatures fills me with a sense of religious awe
that goes to the very depth of my soul and motivates me powerfully
to continue, despite the possible horrible negative consequences."
"I think it would be tragic if humanity chooses to freeze progress,"
he said last week.
A scientist and self-proclaimed social activist and critic, de Garis
isn't alone in his beliefs regarding an artilect takeover and an
evolutionary shift from biological to electronic. Inventor and
futurist Ray Kurzweil is one of the more well known thinkers in the
area, though his ideas on the subject are far more optimistic than
those of de Garis.
"I agree with him up to a point," de Garis said, "We do agree that
this century's global issue is (artificial intelligence)."
He feels, however, that Kurzweil, whose most recent book "The
Singularity Is Near" was published last year, is being naive about
the issue - "dangerously naive."
De Garis is willing to admit that everything could play out in a
variety of scenarios, though he doesn't see it ending pleasantly. "I
don't see an easy way out of (the Artilect War)," he said. "And I've
been thinking and thinking."
Whatever the beliefs concerning the outcome, the idea that
artificial intelligence will be THE issue of the 21st century is
becoming more widespread, and de Garis is in the thick of it all.
He is featured, along with a theologist from MIT, the founder of the
World Transhumanist Association and a cybernetics professor from
Reading University (and writer of the foreword in "The Artilect
War"), in a documentary by Chicago filmmaker Ken Gumbs
called "Building Gods." The film, which Gumbs says should debut this
fall at the Chicago International Film Festival, addresses ethical,
philosophical and technical issues behind creating massively
intelligent machines. A rough cut can be viewed at
www.video.google.com. De Garis and his ideas will also be featured
in a PBS miniseries due to air in June called "The Meaning of the
21st Century."
But not everyone's buying into it. De Garis, a native Australian who
has lived in multiple countries throughout Europe and Asia and will
be taking a job at Wuhan University in China in May, says the United
States has been among the slowest to accept his ideas. In his five
years in the U.S. and at USU, he says he's been told his ideas would
have no impact on the prominent Mormon culture and that God would
never allow "gigadeath" to occur. A publisher told him his ideas
were "fantastical," making his book a hard sell. An applied ethics
professor at Princeton even said in an e-mail to de Garis, "To be
blunt, I am not sure how to place you between the `total flake'
and `genius ahead of his time' views of your ideas."
But he is not deterred.
"I'm trying to get people's attention focused on this," he said.
De Garis compares his plight with that of nuclear physicists in the
1930s, like the eccentric Leo Szilard who worked with Albert
Einstein on the Manhattan Project, who were considered maniacs for
suggesting that a single bomb could annihilate an entire city.
"If people dismiss this stuff, they should think hard about the
nuclear physicists," de Garis said. "This is just decades away."
----
On the Net:
Hugo de Garis' Web site:
http://www.cs.usu.edu/~degaris/
The World Transhumanist Association:
www.transhumanism.org
Ray Kurzweil's Web site:
www.kurzweilai.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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