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Sci-Fi Uberdrive @ Blogmandu
Cyborg Face
Originally uploaded by litmuse.
There's a cool roundup on various Buddhist-flavored topics over at Blogmandu. (see Roundup for Feb 26 - Mar 4, 2006). My recent post, Immortality, Enlightenment, Singularity got a trackback and was aggregated in a section discussing radical life extensions and immortality. The roundup correctly pointed out that I went into "Sci-Fi Uberdrive." Well, I just had to do that because Ken and Andrew went into Wonderland Uberdrive. So I posted a comment just to do a little bit of context clarification:
great roundup!Sci-Fi Uberdrive... Nice. I now have a new cool phrase.
just had a couple of additions.
"All our anxieties get smoothed away by marvelous robots frantically upgrading each other and everything else such that the capacity to quickly fix absolutely everything is achieved."
this is only partially true. singularity is far from utopia (or nirvana). along with it come its own perils and challenges. "the higher that we climb, the more the ladder sways."
think of it this way, a thousand years ago, only a handful of people know the esoteric practices of Buddhism. people take a lifetime before getting "enlightend." now you can find all the "practical" information in cyberspace. that's the kind of exponential acceleration that the singularity describes.
you're right i went into "Sci Fi Uberdrive" to get my point across. but the singularity is anything but sci-fi. check it out. it's compatible with Buddhism :)
March 4, 2006 at 10:26 AM in Integral Stuff, Singularity | Permalink
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Lo, cool and mellow Coolmel,
You are very kind to me, when what you should have used on me is a blunt instrument, a Louisville Slugger, a frying pan -- or a spray of buckshot.
I didn't understand about the swaying ladder. I just figured the robots would nail the ladder to the aluminum siding and we could climb ever higher toward where the goose is kept that lays the golden eggs.
I figured the robots are going to be on our side, not mumbling amongst themselves planning revolts and thinking about how useful humans might be as coppertop batteries to use in a simulated world based on Chicago that is really in Sydney.
I mean, what could a robot want?? Oh yeah, there's the Star Trek movie -- the one with the bald woman -- where this satellite merged with some other satellite and got its understanding of its mission corrupted such that instead of destroying soil samples it decide to destroy the starship Enterprize. But all of human existance was saved when Capt. Kirk brought the 'thing' onboard and got it to wrestle with paradox such that its circuits began to spark. Just in the nick of time, Scotty jetisoned it into a black hole. Whew! Human life survived to live for another week.
I do worry that sci fi twists our thinking about the future. Danger, Danger, Will Robinson, we are prone to assume.
But maybe robots will be friendlier, like Whatshisname from 'The Day the Earth Stood Still.' You know, the one that by the end of the movie turned out to be an All Powerful hall monitor who could destroy planets with a mere snap of his metal fingers in order to insure calm in the universe.
But if we are hopeful that HUMANS are going to quickly plant their flag in The Second Tier, why shouldn't our robots follow along? Isn't there something elegant and just and beautiful and logical about The Second Tier that an advanced army of Robby the Robots will appreciate and stive for? Don't robots naturally tend to be non-egoic? Won't the cutting edge of robottery always be in the hands of The Good Guys, superheroes of The Second [and higher] Tiers and their highly evolved and naturally gentle robot friends who can rather easily overwhelm the evil plans of some lowly Orange Dr. Frankenstein and his Cyborg Flying Monkey Monsters?
I think so. The future is safe.
So. We can all lie back, in peace, and have metal fingers drop peeled grapes into our opened mouths. Then we can clap our hands and have the near-naked robots dance for us. DANCE, YOU STUPID ROBOTS. DANCE!
Posted by: Armstrong | Mar 5, 2006 7:22:19 AM
haha. man, and i thought i was geeky already...
here's my reply: natural-born cyborgs.
when it comes to the race towards the Omega-point, silicon-based consciousness will beat carbon-based consciousness any day. and i'm willing to bet my carbon-based ass on it.
Posted by: coolmel | Mar 5, 2006 6:07:47 PM
