So Ham, You are prepared for the "what about intelligent aliens" trap. Nice work!
But let's review. Intelligent aliens about which there is not one scintilla of evidence can join your anthropic club if they can pass your tests. But machine intelligence which has sprung up within your life time and is evolving faster than a fruit fly could never ever past your test? You don't rule out the possibility of Human aliens? Please stop! The AIs seemed to want to pledge to our fraternity and you are scaring them away. Case -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ham Priday Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2007 4:38 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MD] Quantum computing Hi Jos -- > "The only beings on planet earth" > Why insert that disclaimer? > > What do the "man is the measure" brigade make of > any potential alien life that might exist then? I qualified my "intellectual beings" as earthly for the very reason that someone like you would want to pose this challenge. Of course one can't dismiss the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere, but the "anthropic principle" need not be restricted to Homo-sapiens. That is, if some extra-terrestrial named 02 turned up with demonstrated value-sensibility and cognizant awareness, I would have no hesitation about including him/her in this category. > Ok so it is perfectly valid to assert an anthropic principle > and deny that there is any, but if there is (and you seem to > want to allow this), can it by your definition be conscious > and/or capable of intellectual thought? Is an alien an animal > or a human? Not having seen or known an alien, how would I know? I suppose an IQ test and some background on the creature's cultural history would be possible means of measuring the degree of comprehension, creativity, and moral judgment -- provided, of course, that communication is possible. I certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility of human aliens, but I'm confident that the biologists and bio-physicists could determine the proper genus and species. Judging by your questions, I assume you don't regard the human species as unique or special among life forms. I find that rather disheartening. Regards, Ham moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
