Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 25, 2011 Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 Anyone else read it yet? Anyone excited about the movie? What do you personally think that the "singularity" is going to be? http://www.singularity.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members THAT4301 Posted January 25, 2011 Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 Reaching for the singularity has stunted actual progress in posthumanism Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 Reaching for the singularity has stunted actual progress in posthumanismExample?I just got through the first chapter at work today, so I have no context for that statement. Please explain. My understanding was that the singularity is inevitable regardless of any conscious effort to reach it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 Once upon a time, there was an insane father of 3 teenage sons. In his madness, he rendered one of the sons blind and deaf, but left him with the gift of speech. He rendered the second son blind and mute, but left him with the gift of hearing.He rendered the third son deaf and mute, but left him with the gift of sight. He then locked the 3 sons to starve in a vast room with only a telephone. The telephone only made the sound of screaming. But screaming as long and as loud as possible into the telephone would free the sons from the vast room. Given those conditions, would the 3 sons figure out how to be free, and how? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members THAT4301 Posted January 25, 2011 Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 I'll come clean, I've read about the ideas but not kurzweil's book Well, the idea that the singularity will just happen and there's no need to make any effort to ingratiate ourselves with technology is frankly IMO a recipe for lazy stagnation There are already improvements technology would allow us to make to the human body but nobody's interested, all effort is put into repairing people back to "normality" with no motivation anywhere for improvements for the mainstream If we can restore sight digitally to the blind imagine what we could do to the sighted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Will Chen Posted January 25, 2011 Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 I'll come clean, I've read about the ideas but not kurzweil's bookWell, the idea that the singularity will just happen and there's no need to make any effort to ingratiate ourselves with technology is frankly IMO a recipe for lazy stagnationThere are already improvements technology would allow us to make to the human body but nobody's interested, all effort is put into repairing people back to "normality" with no motivation anywhere for improvements for the mainstreamIf we can restore sight digitally to the blind imagine what we could do to the sighted Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kurtweil's concept is not that it will happen whether we try or not, in a destiny sort of scenario, but rather that the exponentially advancing technology society at some point will demand it. The point at which the human brain can no longer keep up with the speed of advancement nor skill required to operate/wield it is the point at which the singularity must occur in order to continue with the advancement of our civilization. If we look at the decreasing age of digital "acceptance" (my 5 year old can operate a mouse and plays video games yet can't read yet) and the increases in artificial intelligence and robotics, one can only imagine society in a generation or two... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 There are already improvements technology would allow us to make to the human body but nobody's interested, all effort is put into repairing people back to "normality" with no motivation anywhere for improvements for the mainstreamIf we can restore sight digitally to the blind imagine what we could do to the sighted The age-old discussion of every new technology is ethical application. Technological advancements are already faster than our ability to democratically process the ethical evaluation of the consequences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kurtweil's concept is not that it will happen whether we try or not, in a destiny sort of scenario, but rather that the exponentially advancing technology society at some point will demand it. The point at which the human brain can no longer keep up with the speed of advancement nor skill required to operate/wield it is the point at which the singularity must occur in order to continue with the advancement of our civilization. If we look at the decreasing age of digital "acceptance" (my 5 year old can operate a mouse and plays video games yet can't read yet) and the increases in artificial intelligence and robotics, one can only imagine society in a generation or two... Well said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members THAT4301 Posted January 25, 2011 Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 I don't see that there's any ethical difference between using technology to restore sight to mainstream levels and using it to improve it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 If we look at the decreasing age of digital "acceptance" (my 5 year old can operate a mouse and plays video games yet can't read yet) and the increases in artificial intelligence and robotics, one can only imagine society in a generation or two... This is related to my line of profession. I teach other teachers how to teach technology to children (yes, I know ) I struggle to help older generations make mental connections between processes. And they are frustrated that children make the random connections faster than they can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 I don't see that there's any ethical difference between using technology to restore sight to mainstream levels and using it to improve it Sorry, I was expounding into a larger topic. I assumed that you were talking about a kind of Gattaca scenario where only the rich could genetically or technologically have access to perfect vision. Where are you seeing resistance to improving sight through technology? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members THAT4301 Posted January 25, 2011 Members Share Posted January 25, 2011 Not so much resistance as a complete absence of interest; I think that's reflective of attitudes rather than a lack of scope for research Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TritoneTerror Posted January 26, 2011 Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 Haven't read that book, but I have been excited about the singularity and post-humanism for almost a decade. Accelerando is an awesome novel that examines some of the future tech that may change our very world view. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is also pretty great with that kind of stuff. Personally, I'm looking forward to having an exocortex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 26, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 Haven't read that book, but I have been excited about the singularity and post-humanism for almost a decade. Accelerando is an awesome novel that examines some of the future tech that may change our very world view. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is also pretty great with that kind of stuff. Personally, I'm looking forward to having an exocortex. I never finished reading Neuromancer, and really should, though it's a bit outdated now. I love the first Ghost In The Shell movie, but never saw Stand Alone Complex. I'll have to check that out too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guidedbyechoes Posted January 26, 2011 Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 When I first read this I thought it was the company putting out an amazing new easy to use rack effect unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eti Posted January 26, 2011 Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 Once upon a time, there was an insane father of 3 teenage sons. In his madness, he rendered one of the sons blind and deaf, but left him with the gift of speech. He rendered the second son blind and mute, but left him with the gift of hearing. He rendered the third son deaf and mute, but left him with the gift of sight. He then locked the 3 sons to starve in a vast room with only a telephone. The telephone only made the sound of screaming. But screaming as long and as loud as possible into the telephone would free the sons from the vast room. Given those conditions, would the 3 sons figure out how to be free, and how? All 3 of them could communicate with each other using sign language. Helen Keller could, and she was blind and deaf.The question is; how would any of them know that screaming as loud as long as possible into the phone would set them free? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sommy Posted January 26, 2011 Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 [joke about keyboards] [picture of jazz drummer hitting crash cymbal] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paulz Posted January 26, 2011 Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 All 3 of them could communicate with each other using sign language. a tactile communication society is explored sci-fi classic "The Persistence of Vision" (it's a short, or maybe novella) IIRC won both he Nebula and the Hugo that year though since the protocol of a language may not have been set up (a language uses abstract symbols) a more directly representational strategy (tactile/ kinesthetic demonstration) would probably be in order. Alternatively, a maybe more negatively -- Volition isn't always required for execution. One could just need to pose the brother with speech with the telephon and then...well there all kinds of ways to make someone scream. but read Persistence, it's a short story, but is a classic for a reason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 26, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 All 3 of them could communicate with each other using sign language. Helen Keller could, and she was blind and deaf. The question is; how would any of them know that screaming as loud as long as possible into the phone would set them free? Only the brother with the gift of sight could recieve sign language.Only the brother with the gift of hearing could hear the screaming telephone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 26, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 One could just need to pose the brother with speech with the telephon and then...well there all kinds of ways to make someone scream.Persistence sounds cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eti Posted January 26, 2011 Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 Only the brother with the gift of sight could recieve sign language. Why? Helen Keller was blind and deaf and yet could communicate with sign language. If the brothers can still feel things they should be able to communicate with sign language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sad Darwin Posted January 26, 2011 Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 Anyone else read it yet?Anyone excited about the movie?What do you personally think that the "singularity" is going to be?http://www.singularity.com/ Interesting stuff. Part solid scientific projection, part libertarian uber-capitalist god fantasy. Worth reading though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members imbuedblue Posted January 26, 2011 Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 I haven't read Ray Kurzweil's book but I've done a lot of other reading on the subject, including a lot of interviews with Ray. He is definitely an interesting individual, to say the least. Anyway, rather than typing out an essay on my current view on the subject of singularity, I'll post links to someone else doing so:http://andrewhickey.info/2010/08/30/geeks-dig-metaphors-introduction/http://andrewhickey.info/2010/08/30/geeks-dig-metaphors-the-technical-problems-with-the-singularity/http://andrewhickey.info/2010/08/30/geeks-dig-metaphors-the-politics-of-the-singularity/http://andrewhickey.info/2010/08/30/geeks-dig-metaphors-paradigm-a-dozen/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted January 26, 2011 Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 whats the answer to the riddle, cause i'm bored or is it that they reach their own singularity... just after time of sitting in a room the guy with sight watches the hearing brother walk over to the phone, which peaks his interest, so he picks it up while dragging mr mouth over... smashes the mouth man on the forehead with it making him scream into the phone and ta da... rescue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted January 26, 2011 Members Share Posted January 26, 2011 also...what if chasing the singularity is infinite? if we only use a small percentage of our brains... why doesn't our better technology figure out how to use 100%. Then all of a sudden no technology can be better than the human mind. One day you will evolve beyond your physical body and on that day, I hope you will pick up the phone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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