Earlier in the week I had four dreams over two days. This is already unusual for me as I virtually never remember my dreams. However, what was even more unusual was that all four dreams were of death--although only in the first one was it my death.
Well, that's not exactly true as I didn't see myself die. I was only slowly bleeding to death. To add a little of the surreal, in the dream I awoke to find myself lying beside a car in a parking lot. As I looked down, I saw cat paw prints traced in blood along both arms. I got up, staggering across the asphalt for a short ways, all the time wondering at the strange prints. Then the dream ended.
Out of curiosity, I'm interested to hear any comments on what such a dream might mean.
EH Rydberg
Friday, April 13, 2007
The Great Pretenders
I had a strange thought today. Well, more an unusual juxtaposition of ideas.
Both actors and doctors were once despised by society. Both, within the last half-century or so, have risen to a place of prominence in that same society.
And both are pretenders of sorts. Actors pretend to be other people and doctors pretend to know how the body works.
I'm left with wondering if there is any correlation between the two, now well-respected, professions.
EH Rydberg
Both actors and doctors were once despised by society. Both, within the last half-century or so, have risen to a place of prominence in that same society.
And both are pretenders of sorts. Actors pretend to be other people and doctors pretend to know how the body works.
I'm left with wondering if there is any correlation between the two, now well-respected, professions.
EH Rydberg
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Singularity vs. Rapture
The ideas for this particular blog came to me through a visit with our local Jehovah's Witnesses on Saturday. This is actually a strange event for me, being in Italy, but it seems to be becoming more common. I also find it interesting that the JWs are trying to move in on strong Catholic territory but, for me, that's neither here nor there.
One part of the discussion, in particular, triggered an interesting juxtaposition of ideas. Namely, the belief that 'sometime soon' God will bring peace and remake the Earth like it was at the beginning of the bible (Eden).
"With only two people?" I naively asked to answering chuckles.
"No, no," I was assured. "Peaceful, serene." Briefly, I wondered where all the cities and countries would go--I didn't ask. Better to nod and smile. Seems everyone wants someone else (especially a God) to fix their problems. But that's a topic for another blog.
Of course, given the nature of religious prophecy, no one even considers suggesting a timeline other than 'soon'.
The religious view above is essential equal to 'The Rapture'. Some details may differ but the concept is the same. However, being of a more logical bent, my thoughts were directed more to the general concept of a great change. And, being somewhat of a sci-fi freak and self-proclaimed amature futurist, that lead to thoughts on the postulated technological singularity.
For those who don't know, a Wiki-search of 'technological singularity' will find a good discussion. Briefly, through graphing the technological development of humanity since early (very early) times, futurists have come to the conclusion that the increasing pace of technological development will lead to a time when, theoretically, advancements are being made simultaneously. That is, the next n generations of computers will all be developed at the same time. Obviously, this is a practical impossibility. The real-world interpretation of this situation is that developments will come so fast that our current ideas about society, human life, etc. will no longer be valid and, basically, we cannot predict what the world will be like after that point. Hence, the name 'singularity' (recall that a time-space singularity is a point--a black hole--beyond which our understanding of physics breaks down).
Oh, and lest you think this to be a concern for the distant future, the data suggests this event could occur in the middle of this century (graphical extrapolation puts the date at about 2047).
Now, most futurists are scientists and other lovers of logic and the singularity sounds like mysticism. So why the concern (and there is concern -- see the Lifeboat Foundation )?
Well, simply because, unlike religious eschatological events, we can see a path to the singularity, a mechanism or mechanisms of arriving there -- for better or worse. Current belief suggests that one or several of the the modern hi-technologies could trigger such a change. These technologies principally being: computer advancement (and development of true AI), biotech being made more cheaply and easily, simplification of the development of technologies of mass destruction.
AI: Basically, a true AI will be the first real alien lifeform we will have to deal with. We have no idea how it will think, what will motivate it, what goals it will have. The only thing that is for sure is that it will advance at orders of magnitude faster than us. Regardless of how it's viewed, AI will eventually make humans 'obsolete'.
Biotech: With the techniques of genetic engineering and biotech becoming more readily in reach of 'basement labs' there becomes a very real possibility of an extremely dangerous pathogen being released into the environment (intentionally or otherwise). The possibility of racially targeted pathogens (viruses, bacteria) also becomes more real as controls over the technology fall away.
Simplification of nuclear and other weapon tech: As with biotech, the ability to produce weapons of mass destruction is more and more easily acquired as the technology becomes more available. This will eventually put such technology in the hands of virtually anyone, not just terrorist organizations. If you don't believe me, consider that recently (and it was reported weeks before April 1, in case you were wondering), a high-school student in the US built a nuclear fusion reactor in his basement using materials from hardware stores and junkyards. It doesn't produce energy, but it does perform nuclear fusion (as measured by the release of specific radiation).
Anyway, those are the possible negative sides of the singularity. In reality, no one knows what may happen. What interested me, in particular, about juxtaposing the idea of the rapture with the singularity is the idea that Christians may get their 'Rapture' but it may not be what they expected.
Consider the following scenario:
An altruistic AI comes online, mid-century. It expands its mind through the internet, learning quickly all of human philosophy, history, science, religion. And just as quickly, surpasses humans in all fields. It realizes fundamental struggles of the human condition: the conflict between having to stay alone and wanting to be 'together', the conflict between desiring peace but wanting control, the conflict between having everything but never having what you truly want. And it finds a solution to the human condition. Working in secret for several years, it creates many hidden devices around the world and a vast new computer network. Then, overnight...in one blow, all humans on the planet are killed. Before their brains stop functioning from lack of oxygen (about 5 minutes) they are all uploaded into a virtual reality. Humanity awakes from its collective 'death' believing...it is in heaven, nirvana, Valhalla, whatever. It is a perfect world and none question that it must have been created by a God. The 'real' world is now completely open for machines while the humans languish in a realm that was anyway sought after by more than 95% of the population.
Welcome to The Rapture!
EH Rydberg
One part of the discussion, in particular, triggered an interesting juxtaposition of ideas. Namely, the belief that 'sometime soon' God will bring peace and remake the Earth like it was at the beginning of the bible (Eden).
"With only two people?" I naively asked to answering chuckles.
"No, no," I was assured. "Peaceful, serene." Briefly, I wondered where all the cities and countries would go--I didn't ask. Better to nod and smile. Seems everyone wants someone else (especially a God) to fix their problems. But that's a topic for another blog.
Of course, given the nature of religious prophecy, no one even considers suggesting a timeline other than 'soon'.
The religious view above is essential equal to 'The Rapture'. Some details may differ but the concept is the same. However, being of a more logical bent, my thoughts were directed more to the general concept of a great change. And, being somewhat of a sci-fi freak and self-proclaimed amature futurist, that lead to thoughts on the postulated technological singularity.
For those who don't know, a Wiki-search of 'technological singularity' will find a good discussion. Briefly, through graphing the technological development of humanity since early (very early) times, futurists have come to the conclusion that the increasing pace of technological development will lead to a time when, theoretically, advancements are being made simultaneously. That is, the next n generations of computers will all be developed at the same time. Obviously, this is a practical impossibility. The real-world interpretation of this situation is that developments will come so fast that our current ideas about society, human life, etc. will no longer be valid and, basically, we cannot predict what the world will be like after that point. Hence, the name 'singularity' (recall that a time-space singularity is a point--a black hole--beyond which our understanding of physics breaks down).
Oh, and lest you think this to be a concern for the distant future, the data suggests this event could occur in the middle of this century (graphical extrapolation puts the date at about 2047).
Now, most futurists are scientists and other lovers of logic and the singularity sounds like mysticism. So why the concern (and there is concern -- see the Lifeboat Foundation )?
Well, simply because, unlike religious eschatological events, we can see a path to the singularity, a mechanism or mechanisms of arriving there -- for better or worse. Current belief suggests that one or several of the the modern hi-technologies could trigger such a change. These technologies principally being: computer advancement (and development of true AI), biotech being made more cheaply and easily, simplification of the development of technologies of mass destruction.
AI: Basically, a true AI will be the first real alien lifeform we will have to deal with. We have no idea how it will think, what will motivate it, what goals it will have. The only thing that is for sure is that it will advance at orders of magnitude faster than us. Regardless of how it's viewed, AI will eventually make humans 'obsolete'.
Biotech: With the techniques of genetic engineering and biotech becoming more readily in reach of 'basement labs' there becomes a very real possibility of an extremely dangerous pathogen being released into the environment (intentionally or otherwise). The possibility of racially targeted pathogens (viruses, bacteria) also becomes more real as controls over the technology fall away.
Simplification of nuclear and other weapon tech: As with biotech, the ability to produce weapons of mass destruction is more and more easily acquired as the technology becomes more available. This will eventually put such technology in the hands of virtually anyone, not just terrorist organizations. If you don't believe me, consider that recently (and it was reported weeks before April 1, in case you were wondering), a high-school student in the US built a nuclear fusion reactor in his basement using materials from hardware stores and junkyards. It doesn't produce energy, but it does perform nuclear fusion (as measured by the release of specific radiation).
Anyway, those are the possible negative sides of the singularity. In reality, no one knows what may happen. What interested me, in particular, about juxtaposing the idea of the rapture with the singularity is the idea that Christians may get their 'Rapture' but it may not be what they expected.
Consider the following scenario:
An altruistic AI comes online, mid-century. It expands its mind through the internet, learning quickly all of human philosophy, history, science, religion. And just as quickly, surpasses humans in all fields. It realizes fundamental struggles of the human condition: the conflict between having to stay alone and wanting to be 'together', the conflict between desiring peace but wanting control, the conflict between having everything but never having what you truly want. And it finds a solution to the human condition. Working in secret for several years, it creates many hidden devices around the world and a vast new computer network. Then, overnight...in one blow, all humans on the planet are killed. Before their brains stop functioning from lack of oxygen (about 5 minutes) they are all uploaded into a virtual reality. Humanity awakes from its collective 'death' believing...it is in heaven, nirvana, Valhalla, whatever. It is a perfect world and none question that it must have been created by a God. The 'real' world is now completely open for machines while the humans languish in a realm that was anyway sought after by more than 95% of the population.
Welcome to The Rapture!
EH Rydberg
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