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The Singularity continued in part 3
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Technology
- Hits: 1871
For a book I didn't particularly enjoy it's stirred up some thought.
First of all - "The Singularity" - as I've noted in my previous 2 posts. It's not going to happen. Certainly not in the manner that the scientists predict. Certainly not at all in the manner predicted by the trans-humanist video I linked to in a previous post on the topic.
"The Singularity" is a fantasy, a scientific heaven, if you will.
My reasoning is thus. First of all we have to contend with various socio-cultural factors that will seek to limit the spread and distribution of wealth - however it is measured. These factors alone would prove enough to derail the best of Utopias.
But more importantly, chances are if it was possible the singularity would have already been reached by another civilization around another star.
I don't subscribe to to the view that we are at all alone in the universe. Isolated, yes, but a necessary isolation imposed upon us by our clumsy and evolving technology. I believe that the universe, where possible, thrives with life. Much of it unrecognized and/or unacknowledged by ourselves. And were it possible for the technology of any species or race to reach this level, then it already would have been reached. The universe, conservatively, is already some 14.7 billion years old. We're relative newcomers on the scene. The Singularity, were it possible, would have been reached and it's ripples would have spread to us. We would have "Made Contact" or been assimilated.
So rather than using the Fermi Paradox against Extra Terrestial life, I'll use it against the the technophile's dream of a virtual heaven or paradise. Not to upset their plans, but the future will be even stranger than we have imagined.
The Singularity - Continued...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Technology
- Hits: 2011
SO reading the book ["Science at the Edge"] and watching related videos there are some interesting views about the singularity.
Many of the views are optimistic, technology will be our saviour, we will be able to, courtesy of the nanobots in our blood and brains, tune out at any given moment, sensory overrides will take place, nanobots will feed information directly into the associated sensory neurons and we can join in a virtual universe or worlds that will be indistinguishable from the real world. They will be able to repair every cell and neuron in our body. If that fails we'll still be able to live on by downloading our thought patterns, the essence of ourselves, into computers. Our intelligence will be augmented by an almost instant access to information and an instantaneous ability to process it. AI, if it exists by this point, will be able to score our lives, each one of us sharing ourselves with an AI minstrel only too happy to put a soundtrack to our lives, regulate our moods and physical condition....
The Mousetrap
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2199
I found a mouse trapped in a smooth sided coleman cooler that has been stored in my kitchen. It couldn't get out. And with the hamster gone (RIP), I thought I could begin the big mouse roundup.
I caught it, then released it into Hammy's cage. It hid, afraid, behind Hammy's old straw hut.
The other mouse, if there's only one, began making a pile of noise as if in protest, rattling papers, swinging the chew that hangs from the drawer, always just out of sight, the audible mischief done, but no mice to be seen.
And I went to check up on it a few hours later, but it was still hiding I thought. And so I turned the cage upside-down, mussed in the sawdust, turned over the tropical hut, nothing.
It's escaped. I need to find an old aquarium, something without bars, these mice, they're nimble.
Science at the Edge
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 1923
And so at long last I finally finished "Science at the Edge". Which was interesting, a compilation of essays by leading scientists on what they think are important issues.
It was interesting, and not least because it reaffirmed my belieft that science, in some measure, has become a bit of a religion. And as in any religion there are zealots. They have no problems disagreeing profoundly on just about everything, in almost every aspect those adherents of a particular theory will defend it almost unto the death. While they acknowledge there is the possibility they may be wrong, none will believe it. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence. And, lest you think that by some quantum "viewer creates their own reality conundrum" they're all right, by their own admission and insistence they can't be. Someone must be wrong. Just not the scientist writing this essay.
But it was a book, and the problem with books is that it takes time to edit, proofread, set the presses, distribute, market, etc.
And for books on technology that's a bad thing. Principally because by the time the book makes it to a shelf near you many of the subjects and topics are already out of date. No, there's no general unified theory as of yet, but great strides have been made that answer and raise new questions. And that information can be found online. All of it.
For this, the internet is perfect. Information can be distributed and disseminated instantaneously. For science and technology especially, as information distributed by older means is far too slow to the mill.
So I'll end this by saying, if you want to know what the current top issues in science are today, and get the breaking news, don't read a book. Books are for literature, poetry, plays. And when I say this, bear in mind I am prejudiced in favour of books. A book is, in my mind, far superior to staring at a digital screen. But not for this.
Links to Ezines on Science and Technology:
Links to Video Media on Social, Science and Technology Issues:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Google+Techtalks&emb=0#
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