Re:First, human self-knowledge
on
AI in Sci-Fi
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· Score: 1
Eventually it will seem self-aware, which is all I care about.
Damn straight. People place too much emphasis on that which cannot be proven - the fact that an object appears to show signs of consciousness. It is an innately unprovable thing, it can be just illusion for all intents and purposes.
In GEB there's a dialogue ("...Ant Fugue") on precisely that matter. Basically it displays experiences of one Anteater in his dealings with a conscious ant hill, aptly named Aunt Hillary. It deals with that "exactly what" makes a self-organised system appear conscious, and how it maintains that appearance despite the fact that individual units are known to be quite dumb (a la neurons of brain).
Termination of self is in this case presented more like termination of the "little self", that self which is destined to never experience the universe in its fullness (which has some ties with Goedel's incompleteness theorem). By forfeiting your little self, you achieve the transcendental self, that which has perfect knowledge and is capable of perfect understanding, thus is in the state of eternal bliss.
Slashdot Mirror
Guns, who needs guns!
I just stomp on people's heads, they pop and produce coins which make me feel good.
Clifford Donald Simak is what you want if light reading, yet philosophically dense and original plots are your thing.
Most everything by him.
Anything by Roger Zelazny (esp. Amber et al);
Iain (M) Banks;
Gene Wolfe;
These are some of the most brilliant and as usual underappreciated (semi)contemporary authors.
Somehow, I prefer fantasy over sci-fi or technical readings in summer.
Thus I recommend "Rhinegold" by Stephen Grundy.
Also anything by Dan Simmons, just because.
Is here.
Eventually it will seem self-aware, which is all I care about.
Damn straight. People place too much emphasis on that which cannot be proven - the fact that an object appears to show signs of consciousness. It is an innately unprovable thing, it can be just illusion for all intents and purposes.
In GEB there's a dialogue ("...Ant Fugue") on precisely that matter. Basically it displays experiences of one Anteater in his dealings with a conscious ant hill, aptly named Aunt Hillary. It deals with that "exactly what" makes a self-organised system appear conscious, and how it maintains that appearance despite the fact that individual units are known to be quite dumb (a la neurons of brain).
Termination of self is in this case presented more like termination of the "little self", that self which is destined to never experience the universe in its fullness (which has some ties with Goedel's incompleteness theorem). By forfeiting your little self, you achieve the transcendental self, that which has perfect knowledge and is capable of perfect understanding, thus is in the state of eternal bliss.
Identity is overrated anyway :)
Oh, and IANAB
Some basic googling provides plenty of really interesting information...