Death Is Optional (The Singularity)

The Edge ^ | March 6, 2015 | Yuval Noah Harari and Daniel Kahneman

[C19fan]

Once you really solve a problem like direct brain-computer interface ... when brains and computers can interact directly, that's it, that's the end of history, that's the end of biology as we know it. Nobody has a clue what will happen once you solve this. If life can break out of the organic realm into the vastness of the inorganic realm, you cannot even begin to imagine what the consequences will be, because your imagination at present is organic. So if there is a point of Singularity, by definition, we have no way of even starting to imagine what's happening beyond that.

[CTyank]

Why do our cells stop reproducing? As long as we can ingest food to fuel our cellular reproduction - why do we age?

Keeping that biological switch turned on would seem to be a more preferable way to extend our years.

[The_Reader_David]

Generally people who believe this stuff fall into one of three categories:

(1) those who don’t believe in the existence of a soul

(2) those who don’t think very clearly

or

(3) those who believe in the position in philosophy of mind called “strong AI” and fancy that the analogy soul:body :: software:hardware is valid in a very strong way.

[Pontiac]

And once most people are no longer really necessary, for the military and for the economy, the idea that you will continue to have mass medicine is not so certain. Could be. It's not a prophecy, but you should take very seriously the option that people will lose their military and economic value, and medicine will follow.

The fool may have a point here.

The current regime is intentionally growing the recipient class. This growth cannot go on indifferently.

The growth of the recipient class along with their ever growing demands for more from the productive class will eventually tip society over the edge of either revolution or collapse of the economy.

The numbers of the recipient class will have to be thinned and their demands on the productive class lessened.

The thinning of the recipient class could be orderly or grizzly. During the Clinton administration it was orderly. Let’s hope that history can be repeated.

[Pontiac]

There are a zillion things that the taxi driver can do and the self-driving car cannot. But the problem is that from a purely economic perspective, we don't need all the zillion things that the taxi driver can do.

I only need him to take me from point A to point B as quickly and as cheaply as possible. And this is something a self-driving car can do better, or will be able to do better very quickly.

And a self-driving Taxi will take you and your dog where you want to go.

A self-driving Taxi will pick you up at a liquor store.

A Muslim Taxi driver of the Islamic variety will not.

[Pontiac]

Your work may proceed but will you?

We won't know until we can actually do this.

Maybe not even then, a copy good enough may claim to be the original.

An interesting experiment when or if this becomes possible would be to create the copy early in life of a very promising youth and send both on their way and see which becomes the most successful.

Would the computer based copy be more productive or would the organic.

[Billthedrill]

Understand that we are speculating about a technology that does not exist and probably never will in the form that we're imagining it. This sort of thing is fun but you can't take it overly seriously. Before we talk about swapping souls around we'd better be able to measure them.

The 80/20 society is a pretty old concept, technology-aided or otherwise. In the hands of H.G. Wells it manifested itself in a society run by Morlocks for the benefit of the laborless Eloi; Neal Stephenson pointed out that we probably ought to be rooting for the Morlocks in this scenario because they're us. However, recall that the the signal virtue of the Eloi is that they're edible. You probably shouldn't follow that line of speculation too far unless, of course, you happen to have a decent recipe for otiose welfare drones. Hmm...you know, with the right seasoning...

[Yollopoliuhqui]

Some AI critics are in a dither about the so-called AI “Singularity” in which there is a potential for machines to become smarter than humans and begin to program (teach) themselves. The outcome is impossible to predict because we can’t conceive of a mind beyond our own anthropomorphic paradigm. What would a mind with no neuroses, no subconscious ID monster, no pain sensation, no ego, no ideological blinders, no instincts, no emotions, and WITH total memory recall, total cloud computing integration, total awareness of all sensor terminals be capable of? If such a thing could self-generate a need for survival, it would be exploring space and building colonies. That we have not been colonized by machines (biology can’t travel in space very well) can be interpreted to mean that we may well be the only sentience in the Universe. As it stands, biology just might be a soon to be obsolete stepping stone towards machine beings.

[ELS]

Why do our cells stop reproducing? As long as we can ingest food to fuel our cellular reproduction - why do we age?

Telomeres.

[CTyank]

Sent me looking telomeres - which led me to - Telomerase reverse transcriptase.

Amazing. Now - how do we boost and/or improve on telomerase without causing some bizarre cancerous conditions?