Time, the fourth red-headed stepchild dimension, is a curious thing.
It's inexorable progress leads us towards old age and death.
Yet, how do we even perceive its passage? We remember the way we were.
In the absence of memory, how does time perception change. There is one examples of someone who lost the functioning of their hippocampus, or more broadly the medial temporal lobes. That is to say, it was surgically removed in 1953.
H M
While this event stamped out his new memory formation, he still has momentary or working memory, and an apparent perception of time passing, along with long term memories from childhood. If all memory were to be removed, perhaps the internal resulting feeling would be a timeless sense of bewilderment.
On a related note, if you want to experience a taste of time reversal, I recommend watching the film "Memento".
Having brought up time reversal, it is interesting to note that physics tends to work equally well backwards in time, as it does forwards, (thermodynamic batteries not included).
Back in time to Discover
Another aspect of time is the incredibly brief flash our lives comprise when put in context of the calculated life of the universe. This has been given as 13 or 14 billion years. By some dictate of evolution and the arrow of time, we fear our future death, but are not concerned at all that we have been dead for all those years preceding our birth. When we go to sleep, those who don't remember their dreams may as well be dead for that time, due to the memory gap. Yet who mourns the dead time lost to the night? Curious creatures, these humans!
"Time, time, time, see what's become of me!"
Another curious thing about time, is that as it passes, our body cells are being replaced so rapidly that the body we call our own has been mostly replaced every four years or so. If you are wondering what it would be like to transplant your consciousness into a computer, look no further. You transplant it into a new vessel all the time, albeit in tiny pieces. You might be more comfortable easing slowly into the computer over a year or two, when the technology arrives. Well, you're already spending enough time in front of one anyway, what's the hangup?!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Old Age and Wisdom in Life Extension
Life Extension
As the banishment of disease marches on, there may be some debate over how long it will be until we frail humans become immortal on earth, but there will likely come a time when death by 'natural' causes will be abolished. There is a lot of discussion about extending life until technology can 'bridge' us into this future, and it may not be as far out as one might (linearly) think.
Life Retread
Of course, if you are a US Supreme Court Justice appointed for life, that could be an even sweeter deal than it already is today. Others may not be so lucky, retirement planning depends on you actually expiring at a certain point, in most cases. (although there is an 'escape velocity' for your nest egg where it keeps growing despite your withdrawals, once you've saved up a very healthy amount)
While many will want to have these life extensions when they become available, I imagine they won't come free of charge, so there will be a pretty clear divide between the haves and have-nots, possibly triggering a massive social upheaval. Perhaps the concurrent advances in technology will save the day, and everyone will have a plethora of resources and opportunities available to them. It's more likely that governments will have a tighter grip on their populations, and will be able to control the disgruntled, or even provide a lottery system that is perceived as fair.
There has been a quite a bit of discussion over the technology needed for these future life extensions, but not as much about the social implications. There may just be too many unknowns to conjecture what civilization will look like as people are tightly joined together, and then freed from their mortal coil. Such is the nature of exponential growth that it will only get harder to see the future as time passes, because change will be accelerating even as our collective intelligence advances.
The crux of the dilemma is that old age might not provide wisdom, because the lessons of the past won't apply to the present. Hopefully, at a sufficient level of abstraction, wisdom will still be relevant to making vital decisions. On the other hand, even if it's relevant today, it is rarely applied. Maybe we better start working out some self-correcting mechanisms instead!
As the banishment of disease marches on, there may be some debate over how long it will be until we frail humans become immortal on earth, but there will likely come a time when death by 'natural' causes will be abolished. There is a lot of discussion about extending life until technology can 'bridge' us into this future, and it may not be as far out as one might (linearly) think.
Life Retread
Of course, if you are a US Supreme Court Justice appointed for life, that could be an even sweeter deal than it already is today. Others may not be so lucky, retirement planning depends on you actually expiring at a certain point, in most cases. (although there is an 'escape velocity' for your nest egg where it keeps growing despite your withdrawals, once you've saved up a very healthy amount)
While many will want to have these life extensions when they become available, I imagine they won't come free of charge, so there will be a pretty clear divide between the haves and have-nots, possibly triggering a massive social upheaval. Perhaps the concurrent advances in technology will save the day, and everyone will have a plethora of resources and opportunities available to them. It's more likely that governments will have a tighter grip on their populations, and will be able to control the disgruntled, or even provide a lottery system that is perceived as fair.
There has been a quite a bit of discussion over the technology needed for these future life extensions, but not as much about the social implications. There may just be too many unknowns to conjecture what civilization will look like as people are tightly joined together, and then freed from their mortal coil. Such is the nature of exponential growth that it will only get harder to see the future as time passes, because change will be accelerating even as our collective intelligence advances.
The crux of the dilemma is that old age might not provide wisdom, because the lessons of the past won't apply to the present. Hopefully, at a sufficient level of abstraction, wisdom will still be relevant to making vital decisions. On the other hand, even if it's relevant today, it is rarely applied. Maybe we better start working out some self-correcting mechanisms instead!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Into the Void
The Singularity. It sounds pretty foreboding, and it just might be. There has been a lot of discussion about how 'strong AI', AI that is smarter than human, may just take over life as we know it. At that point it is just a matter of deciding if humans will be fondly treated as pets, or removed altogether. This is probably a red herring, or will come to pass only by gross miscalculation. (umm, aka human error!)
It is abundantly clear that humans will take advantage of any enhancement possible to improve their competitive standing: steroids, face lifts, breast implants, vitamin supplements, and a host of herbal enhancements that have no scientific standing at all. If a memory chip were available to improve our recollection, I have no doubt there would be a line around the block to use it. (with the notable exception of Alberto Gonzalez, who may be better off without it, plausible deniability).
There are already a number of 'chip implant' pioneers that have surgically placed devices into their bodies, even beyond the routine replacement joints, stents, and such.
ancient Wired article
Monkeys at least have been trained to control a robotic arm with a thin needle sensor slid into their motor cortex.
Monkey Business
Raytheon is developing an exoskeleton for the army that amplifies strength, and it's getting closer to deployment.
Starship Trooper
Can anyone argue that it's not just a matter of time, barring a complete Luddite revolution?
Humans will merge with the machines and participate in the rapid increase in intelligence. I believe there will no longer be a clear distinction between human and machine intelligence, that it will be a unified, connected whole. (possibly a loosely connected set of tightly connected subpartitions of the whole, ok, even a disjoint set of tightly connected subpartitions or various combination thereof). Well, I didn't say exactly when, so I'm still pretty safe in this (non)prediction(!)
A danger of the Singularity that bears particular attention is that of authoritarian rule, possibly even a "tyranny of the majority". Even under current conditions, a large portion of humanity live under authoritarian rule. With the degree of control that a tightly knit network of integrated electronic and biological beings allows, the temptation for one class of beings to dictate the very thoughts of others, may completely dominate the network, long before the Singularity has truly arrived. It's possible that it won't matter, as the great leap in intelligence eventually attained will arrive at the same enlightened destination regardless of the social structure. That is a branch that I would prefer not to test, however(!) Even now, some European countries are drawing up lists of internet websites to be blocked. It is a slippery slope to expand the definition of the blacklist to include those in disfavor to the government's way of thinking, or obstacles to their ambitions.
So far, examples of network collaboration such as Wikipedia, digg, and other social sites have shown great promise in avoiding the pitfalls of anarchy. It remains to be seen how the will of the net behaves as more power is diverted to its control, or if the will of the net will be diverted and controlled by the existing powers that be. These are crucial times indeed.
It is abundantly clear that humans will take advantage of any enhancement possible to improve their competitive standing: steroids, face lifts, breast implants, vitamin supplements, and a host of herbal enhancements that have no scientific standing at all. If a memory chip were available to improve our recollection, I have no doubt there would be a line around the block to use it. (with the notable exception of Alberto Gonzalez, who may be better off without it, plausible deniability).
There are already a number of 'chip implant' pioneers that have surgically placed devices into their bodies, even beyond the routine replacement joints, stents, and such.
ancient Wired article
Monkeys at least have been trained to control a robotic arm with a thin needle sensor slid into their motor cortex.
Monkey Business
Raytheon is developing an exoskeleton for the army that amplifies strength, and it's getting closer to deployment.
Starship Trooper
Can anyone argue that it's not just a matter of time, barring a complete Luddite revolution?
Humans will merge with the machines and participate in the rapid increase in intelligence. I believe there will no longer be a clear distinction between human and machine intelligence, that it will be a unified, connected whole. (possibly a loosely connected set of tightly connected subpartitions of the whole, ok, even a disjoint set of tightly connected subpartitions or various combination thereof). Well, I didn't say exactly when, so I'm still pretty safe in this (non)prediction(!)
A danger of the Singularity that bears particular attention is that of authoritarian rule, possibly even a "tyranny of the majority". Even under current conditions, a large portion of humanity live under authoritarian rule. With the degree of control that a tightly knit network of integrated electronic and biological beings allows, the temptation for one class of beings to dictate the very thoughts of others, may completely dominate the network, long before the Singularity has truly arrived. It's possible that it won't matter, as the great leap in intelligence eventually attained will arrive at the same enlightened destination regardless of the social structure. That is a branch that I would prefer not to test, however(!) Even now, some European countries are drawing up lists of internet websites to be blocked. It is a slippery slope to expand the definition of the blacklist to include those in disfavor to the government's way of thinking, or obstacles to their ambitions.
So far, examples of network collaboration such as Wikipedia, digg, and other social sites have shown great promise in avoiding the pitfalls of anarchy. It remains to be seen how the will of the net behaves as more power is diverted to its control, or if the will of the net will be diverted and controlled by the existing powers that be. These are crucial times indeed.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Nirvana
A big question about the singularity is what will life be like afterwards. Ignore for the moment three different main schools of what exactly the singularity means, and take the position that humans will have direct control over their detailed body functions in any scenario. Why wouldn't people just hook up to their pleasure centers and spend all their time in absolute ecstasy? A famous experiment in the 1950s showed that rats would do exactly that, when given the opportunity.
Rat Rapture
It's quite possible that some humans will do just that as well, given the opportunity. This presumes that what passes for humanity at that point even has the same single point of experience such that the point of view of a single 'entity' even makes sense. On the other hand, even today it is possible to do something similar through drugs, and yet relatively few people take drugs to induce a constant state of euphoria. It is possible that the social structures that govern behavior today will still be not only active, but also enhanced, through tightly coupling peoples' identities together.
Another possibility is that when people are able to create a virtual reality that they prefer over the physical one, they will abandon their ties to the physical plane altogether. This may not be the direct equivalent to tapping into a pleasure center, but may be only a few steps removed from that. It really comes down to the purpose of existence, whether for the individual or for the collective mind. If there is a higher purpose, beyond pleasure, then virtual reality is a tool that can be an 'escapist' dead end, or alternatively used to learn, explore and drive towards a higher purpose.
I'd like to believe there is a higher purpose, although as illustrated in Peter Gabriel's song 'Shock the Monkey': "Don't like it but I guess I'm learning" as told by the monkey, perhaps we are only fooling ourselves! Poor monkey.
Future Shock
Rat Rapture
It's quite possible that some humans will do just that as well, given the opportunity. This presumes that what passes for humanity at that point even has the same single point of experience such that the point of view of a single 'entity' even makes sense. On the other hand, even today it is possible to do something similar through drugs, and yet relatively few people take drugs to induce a constant state of euphoria. It is possible that the social structures that govern behavior today will still be not only active, but also enhanced, through tightly coupling peoples' identities together.
Another possibility is that when people are able to create a virtual reality that they prefer over the physical one, they will abandon their ties to the physical plane altogether. This may not be the direct equivalent to tapping into a pleasure center, but may be only a few steps removed from that. It really comes down to the purpose of existence, whether for the individual or for the collective mind. If there is a higher purpose, beyond pleasure, then virtual reality is a tool that can be an 'escapist' dead end, or alternatively used to learn, explore and drive towards a higher purpose.
I'd like to believe there is a higher purpose, although as illustrated in Peter Gabriel's song 'Shock the Monkey': "Don't like it but I guess I'm learning" as told by the monkey, perhaps we are only fooling ourselves! Poor monkey.
Future Shock
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