At 09:11 16/08/2010 -0700, Michael Gurstein wrote:
From another list... (albeit of deep techno-enthusiasts...
M
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 7:53 AM
Subject: Re: People questioning the intelligence of the global
communication network
The Smartphone part of this article that really interests me. There can
never have been such a rapid take-up of a consumer good as the smartphone
by the young. At the same time there are very clear signs (at least in the
UK so far) that structural unemployment is steadily growing among the
young. Until the last couple of years, this was largely confined to the
school drop-outs and the NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training)
but last year, and this year, there'll be many thousands of graduates
joining them (particularly as many retired people are now returning to the
job market). I'm fascinated to ponder whether the smart phone is going to
have any sort of catalytic effect on this growing sub-population with time
on their hands. I'm not so much thinking about the ability to raise mass
demonstrations in the streets nor any sort of concerted anger, but of the
tremendous potential for the dissemination of new ideas and the formation
of specialized groups. I'm thinking of new forms of sustainable life styles
and quite new forms of business -- new sorts of monastic orders (though
without celibacy presumably).
Keith
Thanks, ,
I'd like to reiterate a point I made earlier on the list and make a small
update to the list in regards to smartphones.
The point was, roughly, that should a global brain or accelerating
artificial intelligence be clearly visible and provable, or most
dramatically able to communicate with us, the stage is set for religious
feelings, the formation of churches, and other very significant worship
behavior of the new life form(s).
Notably, the original article by Jaron Lanier is titled the First Church
of Robotics and the discussion you highlighted below revolves around
proving Global Brain ideas. Lanier is a vocal critic of these ideas and I
disagree with the attention he receives as a kind of new-world dreadlocked
mystic of technology. In this article, he writes (in regards to the
behavior of reposting content on Twitter):
" That is, people perform machine-like activity, copying and relaying
information; the Internet, as a whole, is claimed to perform the creative
thinking, the problem solving, the connection making. This is a
devaluation of human thought."
Basically, Lanier is a hardcore humanist who is in love with
technology. No matter that millions of humans around the world discover
fascinating things as a result of following other human activity on
Twitter, largely from reposting behavior. According to Lanier, Twitter is
not intelligent and the internet is soulless and possibly evil. I have to
say, it kind of creeps me out to hear someone stating that we should "
keep our religious ideas out of (the work of scientists and engineers)"
and at the same time profess a deep unshakable belief in the human soul,
obviously a thing never to be surpassed or obtained by a machine.
What this article is about is the two sides that are apparent in Global
Brain and AI research today. One side believes that only humans can have
souls and computers can never be truly aware; the other believes that it's
not clear if souls exist or have a specific humanistic definition and that
perhaps intelligence/awareness is bigger than humans. Or you could say
those who believe that intelligence requires soul and those who don't.
Nonetheless, should a "new mind" awaken in some measurable form, look
out! Will Lanier and his anthropocentric ilk call for it's summary
execution as an abomination and try to pull the plug? Will Kuzweil and
his followers raise it on high and try to plug in?
UPDATE ON SMARTPHONES:
The smartphone explosion is significant. "On the ground" as a consultant,
I have helped many fellow citizens upgrade from small form factor devices
and less touchscreen-oriented machines like Blackberries into the rapidly
expanding world of Androids and iPhones. People who obtain these new
smartphones immediately wonder, "what do I do with it now?" and start
searching for applications and asking me what applications they should be
installing. And, I believe, a new kind of emotional connection is born.
Very recently, there has been quite a passionate drama played out in the
world of smartphone owners. People are realizing they can "jailbreak"
their iPhones and emerge from the Jobsian cleanroom to enter the free
world of the internet and install whatever they want. People are
realizing that some new Android phones (already a lot more liberated in
regards to applications) come with a special chip that prevents complete
"root" control of their device, but within two weeks of it's entrance into
the world, a very real digital hero emerged on forums and blogs who had
conquered the chip and granted Power to the People to be who they want to
be - and the primary force driving root control was the ability to turn
the Android device into an open WiFi hotspot, which the mobile network
providers want to stop.
These are no longer phones, they are extension of ourselves, our desires,
our "souls" if you will. Lanier fears " we think of people more and more
as computers, just as we think of computers as people." I believe our new
small computer smartphone technologies are more than trusted friends or
separate simulacrums, they are part of us. Do you believe they are
draining or expanding our souls? If you believe in such a thing as a
soul... if not, perhaps replace "soul" with "intelligence."
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England
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