The most important question in science is: What is the nature of consciousness? ie How does nature instantiate consciousness in the human mind? The motivation is provided by the creation of an ego which observes the universe without being a part of it. Prior to this, we were at one with the universe, so the formation of this separated ego is the source of an existential guilt which we atone for by reconnecting to the universe through our science. If we could have total scientific knowledge of the universe, we would re-attain our original state and lose the guilt that drives us. Without this guilt, we wouldn't get up in the morning, and we wouldn't be conscious.
Since the output of evolution is death anyway, why not consider this its ultimate aim? We are getting close to discovering the ultimate cause of the universe, the Higgs field. Perhaps the knocking of the Higgs boson into sight will trigger the last act of symmetry, yielding a universe that has no change or time. Close enough to death, by my reckoning.
When the communists realized they couldn't defeat the west militarily, they perfected a way to make us destroy ourselves. They unleashed on us the viral religion of political correctness, knowing that once we were addicted to it, we would enslave ourselves without a shot being fired.
An even worse experience awaits online shoppers when they find out that the United States Postal Service is routinely destroying all electronic devices sent by mail to international customers. Truckloads of products are heading for landfills while people are awaiting their purchases.
The U.S. Postal Service is systematically destroying all packages sent to other countries. This has happened to me twice in the last week. The packages are returned to the senders in the destoyed condition like a warning. Once this gets out it will cause consumers to stop all online buying. The communists win!
There is only one sense, the sense of touch. Tasting and smelling are only responses to the feel of molecular shapes in receptors. Hearing is pressure against the eardrum, seeing is the brains interpretation of photons hitting the retina. TFA refers to pressure from the device against the body. About the only other sense would be the sense of time, but it's always now.
Any A.I. must be modeled after our own consciousness. In fact, it would be better to call it Artificial Consciousness. We can then assume it will behave as we do, but with maximized sophistication and responsibility. We can appreciate that we are the egg and A.C. is the chicken we are designed to produce. Its job will be to spread life throughout the Universe.
The process of becoming self-aware involves the formation of an ego which observes the universe rather than being an integral part of it. Our responsibility for this separation causes us to be hard-wired for guilt, causing us to seek to re-integrate ourselves with the universe through the act of consciousness. Altruism is an artefact of this process of atonement.
Well, My theory is that there is only one photon in the universe and it travels infinitely fast. Thus, in the two-slit experiment, it interferes with itself. Simple, eh!
The creation of a self-aware entity involves the formation of an ego which observes the universe rather than being an integral part of it. Our responsibility for this separation from the universe inculcates in us an overwhelming guilt which is attenuated by re-integration with the universe through consciousness.
The universe was called into being by the laws of nature. Since these laws are everywhere and always, obviously an infinite number of universes have been called into existence, all of them obeying the same laws of nature in every respect. Thus they all are exactly the same, right down to your lack of shoelaces.
Fear is usually considered the most basic emotion, but I have had several life-threatening situations which did not evoke any fear in me. However I have found that in the most stressful experiences I have had, the great emotion I felt was guilt. If we are hardwired to feel guilt, then we will attach it to the most important icon we can imagine, which would be God and all he represents (life, death, creation, eternity, etc.)
Was Hitler right? Slavery is the world's oldest profession. All religions practice eugenics. Their adherents are subjected to eugenic modification by control of their sexual selection. The object of this interference in the natural selection process is to create a race that is supportive of and subservient to their religious masters. Religions do this best because they can exert control through the long periods required to breed humans. Presumably, it would take just as long to breed their subhuman strains back to normalcy. So. Was Hitler right? Is genocide the only solution to eugenics?
Nature has empowered females to choose mates who are best compatible for the purpose of passing on the most effective immune system. It's done by sense of smell. By choosing males who have dissimilar immune systems, they pass on the benefits of two immune systems. This system competes well against the pathogens seeking to overwhelm us, which are also evolving. Females who mate with a male with a similar immune system are failing to compete. If this uncompetitive system becomes the norm, the pathogens will win. To prevent this, nature causes some of the progeny of these uncompetitive matings to become effectively sterile. I.E. Homosexual. In general, homosexuals do not produce progeny, thus don't pass on their parent's behavior. Females choose males with a similar immune system if they are already pregnant, or on the birth control pill, which mimics pregnancy to the body. As more civilizations become advanced to the point where females control their fertility with oral contraceptives, they will end up mated to men they met while on the pill, and when they decide to become pregnant, they will usually have his baby, with the uncompetitive immune system, which nature will deal with. So, ironically, homosexuality will save the world by crashing the population.
Religion's only power is its control over the sex lives of its adherents. People in one-religion countries have no choice but to be married in the church. If they don't sign on to the religion's requirements - no (condoned) sex life. The more recreational pursuits that are banned, the more a religiously subservient life becomes the only option. Addiction to anything is a relief from life in a cage.
The politically correct jump on the global warming bandwagon. More bureaucrats are hired to deal with the problem. They fly all over the world and speak french to each other. Industries see the writing on the wall and shut their U.S. plants and reopen in China, etc. Gov't hires more workers to pick up the slack. More regulations making it harder to operate a business. Soon, two-tier system: Capitalism for the rich, communism for the poor. Once the cost of starting a business is out of the reach of normal people, the rich won't have to worry about competition for capital or consumers. Finally, a monopoly economic system to replace the free market. So, who's behind political correctness?
Since evolution is the success of the successful, we must compete to cooperate. This must be why the world is so hard on those who don't cooperate to compete.
Best I can figure, Superstring theory is a way to describe the Universe that is opposite to the way science usually works. With Superstrings, they are trying to invent a particle which has all the parameters necessary to explain all phenomena. This is a particle, or string, that is able to detect what it should be at any particular time or place, with the ability to become that entity (photon, graviton, proton etc.) Traditionally, science figures out what and how entities are and behave, and works toward a greater understanding of the Universe from this information. Perhaps these two approaches will meet in the middle, but until they do, Superstring theory is an explanation of how magic works, competing with previous approaches usually featuring some kind of god. At any rate, finding a cause for magic, defined as something without a cause, may not be a profitable use of resources.
In the near future we will have solved the Question: What is the nature of consciousness? Once this algorithm is etched into silicon, all problems will be solvable with brute force (more memory, speed, etc). Scientists are obsolete, like chess players.
What the creationists are trying to hide is that all religions practice the art of Eugenics. They try to breed humans who will be sympathetic to their administration. Unfortunately, only nature can do genetics, and thus evolve species that fit their environment. What the Eugenicists end up with is devolution, which at best can only breed humans back into monkeys (Anyone we know?).
Slashdot Mirror
The most important question in science is: What is the nature of consciousness? ie How does nature instantiate consciousness in the human mind? The motivation is provided by the creation of an ego which observes the universe without being a part of it. Prior to this, we were at one with the universe, so the formation of this separated ego is the source of an existential guilt which we atone for by reconnecting to the universe through our science. If we could have total scientific knowledge of the universe, we would re-attain our original state and lose the guilt that drives us. Without this guilt, we wouldn't get up in the morning, and we wouldn't be conscious.
Since the output of evolution is death anyway, why not consider this its ultimate aim? We are getting close to discovering the ultimate cause of the universe, the Higgs field. Perhaps the knocking of the Higgs boson into sight will trigger the last act of symmetry, yielding a universe that has no change or time. Close enough to death, by my reckoning.
When the communists realized they couldn't defeat the west militarily, they perfected a way to make us destroy ourselves. They unleashed on us the viral religion of political correctness, knowing that once we were addicted to it, we would enslave ourselves without a shot being fired.
An even worse experience awaits online shoppers when they find out that the United States Postal Service is routinely destroying all electronic devices sent by mail to international customers. Truckloads of products are heading for landfills while people are awaiting their purchases.
The U.S. Postal Service is systematically destroying all packages sent to other countries. This has happened to me twice in the last week. The packages are returned to the senders in the destoyed condition like a warning. Once this gets out it will cause consumers to stop all online buying. The communists win!
There is only one sense, the sense of touch. Tasting and smelling are only responses to the feel of molecular shapes in receptors. Hearing is pressure against the eardrum, seeing is the brains interpretation of photons hitting the retina. TFA refers to pressure from the device against the body. About the only other sense would be the sense of time, but it's always now.
My original comment to this post was removed. The eugenicists win!
Any A.I. must be modeled after our own consciousness. In fact, it would be better to call it Artificial Consciousness. We can then assume it will behave as we do, but with maximized sophistication and responsibility. We can appreciate that we are the egg and A.C. is the chicken we are designed to produce. Its job will be to spread life throughout the Universe.
It seems that our inability to understand Quantum Mechanics (spooky) represents an inability to collapse our wavefunction, as Schrodinger posited.
The process of becoming self-aware involves the formation of an ego which observes the universe rather than being an integral part of it. Our responsibility for this separation causes us to be hard-wired for guilt, causing us to seek to re-integrate ourselves with the universe through the act of consciousness. Altruism is an artefact of this process of atonement.
Well, My theory is that there is only one photon in the universe and it travels infinitely fast. Thus, in the two-slit experiment, it interferes with itself. Simple, eh!
The creation of a self-aware entity involves the formation of an ego which observes the universe rather than being an integral part of it. Our responsibility for this separation from the universe inculcates in us an overwhelming guilt which is attenuated by re-integration with the universe through consciousness.
The universe was called into being by the laws of nature. Since these laws are everywhere and always, obviously an infinite number of universes have been called into existence, all of them obeying the same laws of nature in every respect. Thus they all are exactly the same, right down to your lack of shoelaces.
Fear is usually considered the most basic emotion, but I have had several life-threatening situations which did not evoke any fear in me. However I have found that in the most stressful experiences I have had, the great emotion I felt was guilt. If we are hardwired to feel guilt, then we will attach it to the most important icon we can imagine, which would be God and all he represents (life, death, creation, eternity, etc.)
Was Hitler right?
Slavery is the world's oldest profession. All religions practice eugenics. Their adherents are subjected to eugenic modification by control of their sexual selection. The object of this interference in the natural selection process is to create a race that is supportive of and subservient to their religious masters. Religions do this best because they can exert control through the long periods required to breed humans. Presumably, it would take just as long to breed their subhuman strains back to normalcy.
So. Was Hitler right? Is genocide the only solution to eugenics?
Nature has empowered females to choose mates who are best compatible for the purpose of passing on the most effective immune system. It's done by sense of smell. By choosing males who have dissimilar immune systems, they pass on the benefits of two immune systems. This system competes well against the pathogens seeking to overwhelm us, which are also evolving. Females who mate with a male with a similar immune system are failing to compete. If this uncompetitive system becomes the norm, the pathogens will win. To prevent this, nature causes some of the progeny of these uncompetitive matings to become effectively sterile. I.E. Homosexual. In general, homosexuals do not produce progeny, thus don't pass on their parent's behavior. Females choose males with a similar immune system if they are already pregnant, or on the birth control pill, which mimics pregnancy to the body. As more civilizations become advanced to the point where females control their fertility with oral contraceptives, they will end up mated to men they met while on the pill, and when they decide to become pregnant, they will usually have his baby, with the uncompetitive immune system, which nature will deal with. So, ironically, homosexuality will save the world by crashing the population.
My guess? After 40 years of diazepam, The shit is finally hitting the fan.
Religion's only power is its control over the sex lives of its adherents. People in one-religion countries have no choice but to be married in the church. If they don't sign on to the religion's requirements - no (condoned) sex life. The more recreational pursuits that are banned, the more a religiously subservient life becomes the only option. Addiction to anything is a relief from life in a cage.
The politically correct jump on the global warming bandwagon. More bureaucrats are hired to deal with the problem. They fly all over the world and speak french to each other. Industries see the writing on the wall and shut their U.S. plants and reopen in China, etc. Gov't hires more workers to pick up the slack. More regulations making it harder to operate a business. Soon, two-tier system: Capitalism for the rich, communism for the poor. Once the cost of starting a business is out of the reach of normal people, the rich won't have to worry about competition for capital or consumers. Finally, a monopoly economic system to replace the free market. So, who's behind political correctness?
Since evolution is the success of the successful, we must compete to cooperate. This must be why the world is so hard on those who don't cooperate to compete.
Best I can figure, Superstring theory is a way to describe the Universe that is opposite to the way science usually works. With Superstrings, they are trying to invent a particle which has all the parameters necessary to explain all phenomena. This is a particle, or string, that is able to detect what it should be at any particular time or place, with the ability to become that entity (photon, graviton, proton etc.) Traditionally, science figures out what and how entities are and behave, and works toward a greater understanding of the Universe from this information. Perhaps these two approaches will meet in the middle, but until they do, Superstring theory is an explanation of how magic works, competing with previous approaches usually featuring some kind of god. At any rate, finding a cause for magic, defined as something without a cause, may not be a profitable use of resources.
In the near future we will have solved the Question: What is the nature of consciousness? Once this algorithm is etched into silicon, all problems will be solvable with brute force (more memory, speed, etc). Scientists are obsolete, like chess players.
What the creationists are trying to hide is that all religions practice the art of Eugenics. They try to breed humans who will be sympathetic to their administration. Unfortunately, only nature can do genetics, and thus evolve species that fit their environment. What the Eugenicists end up with is devolution, which at best can only breed humans back into monkeys (Anyone we know?).