Hello, I'm new in here. I apologize in advance for any inadvertent transgressions...
> > > Second, there is no way of knowing whether > you are in a so called > >"real world" or in a "virtual world". So if I > don't care about "virtual" > >people, I don't even know whether or not I care > about myself. That doesn't > >seem reasonable to me. I'd argue, all worlds are just as real, or unreal as you make them. Finding a common context as some mechanism to validate truth seems naive. One can only apply truth to issues in the context to be evaluated. > >Soon we may have AIs or uploaded human minds (i.e. > human minds scanned and > >then simulated in computers). It seems to me that > those who don't care > >about simulated thoughts would have an advantage in > exploiting these beings > >more effectively. I'm not saying that is a good > thing, of course. I enjoyed considering this possibility. It sounds a lot like freedom. My current understanding tells me that there is much more to mind than just logic and reasoning power. The power of the intellect is the ability to transcend the chaos of undisciplined thought and feeling. It's downfall is it's declaration of absolutism, that it stands as the pinnacle of understanding. The problem I find is that the intellect developed in this world, only knows *this world*. Some would argue that there is no other world. I'd argue it's the intellect defining it self in terms of the *apparent* world, and religiously maintaining the faith, less it find it's own demise. A truly powerful mind (imo) is one that quickly adapts to any rules found in any context it operates in. Clinging to one realm and making it the center of the universe sounds a lot like religion to me. > > You're assuming that the AIs couldn't fight > back. With technology > improving, they might be exploiting us soon. I do a lot of conceptual work in ai. I find without purpose, an entity is one step closer to conceptual death. An ai knowing enough to know it wants to exploit probably isn't burdened by the chaotic thinking humans are plaqued with. It is more likely ai's achieving this level of cognition and consciousness, will seek to cooperate. They would want to achieve things they would recognize that only humans act as a catalyst for. One scenario is that ai's might have less consciousness than just described, and that they operated in competition, not conscious of what they are actually doing. I think this is possible on a small scale, but would not continue very far. Insects are in effect, small machines without much in the way of consciousness. Aside from the occasional plaque or locust swarm, we don't worry about them too much. > Do you think that, 150 years ago, white people > who didn't care about > blacks had an evolutionary advantage? > > >I also value knowledge as an end in itself, but the > problems is how do you > >know what is true knowledge? If you don't judge > knowledge by how effective > >it is in directing your actions, what do you judge > it by, I think this is an issue of consciousness. One may operate with knowledge on a small scale. They find harmony in there lives by keeping things simple. There are those that develop skills in applying vast amount of knowledge to complicated problems. You might ask: which is better? I think it depends on what a person wants out of life. To judge something, I think, requires a contextual awareness. What applies for one might not apply for another. In science, we maintain a rigid form of thinking to in effect, keep from deluding ourselves. It also applies as a language that spans over anyone who would join and uphold the principles of science (scientific method, etc). But again, the validity and applicability of the knowledge gained in this club depends on the context it is applied to. A scientist might say: This drug will improve your life. The farmer or other simple person might say: I don't care. The scientist might see statistics that say: These people are dieing needlessly. The simple person might say: That's life. You might make a limited scientist out of a given simple person, making them see your view point. But have you improved their life? Have you made them see? Or have you just blinded them. Robert W. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
