Human After All
(I already posted this on myspace so this might be a re-run for some of you. The rest: ENJOY!!)
I think it's funny the way humans "humanize" everything they come in contact with. Marx would say that the process of say, building a skyscraper, requires a certain amount of highly valuable productive energy spawning from the counciousness of a living, breathing, thinking human. As a result of this extertion of human energy, The Produced suddenly gains a sense of "humanness" just through being produced by a human.
It makes sense, especially since Marx goes on to say that since this human extertion is so valueable, all of it should be valued in the eyes of society on an equal level, as opposed to... say... being worth 30 cents a day only because you happen to be located in a Singapore wharehouse. All of this I completely agree with, but is steering me off track.
However, if what is produced suddenly has some level of human VALUE as a "consciousness", then the mataphysical laws of matter versus energy are completely invalid. Think about the associations people make between a completely useable bookshelf they found in a dumpster, versus the bookshelf their great great great great grand father built back in the day. Both of these things fulfill their physical purpose, however, the one with some form of human conciousness embedded in it has more "value". Some people defend their great- to- the- nth- power grand father's bookshelf (or *insert object with sentimental value here*) to the DEATH, which is ironic because in such a case the end of actual human conciousness (as we know it) results for the continuation of completely fabricated human conciousness!
Cathedrals are also an example of the sillyness that humans associate inanimant matter with. For some reason, these buildings are build for some specific non- "physical" purpose; that is, not to be used for the production of something, as would be a house (the "production" of a family) or a buisness or the like. Rather, they are built to the dedication of a purely human, non-productive, spiritual characteristic and that gives stone and gold foil societal "value" untouchable by even todays modern government.
Now, when taking about comparitively less important objects like bookshelves and buildings, this is relatively harmless to the masses. The notion of AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a completely different matter, in my eyes. It is problamatic to assume that just because humans build a robot, it will suddenly be animated with the conscious manifestation of "humanness". In fact, it's just silly. A bookshelf is just a bookshelf. It holds books and is made of wood and is what it is. It's not a bookshelf until you form wood in to the shape and capabilities of a bookshelf, but then it only inherantly is "bookshelfness". Nothing more, nothing less. A cathedral is a building, it doesnt matter what you do in it. The cathedral's job is to encase humans in protective stone for however long they decide to stand in it. A robot is a robot. made for whatever purposes robots are made for. (who can peredict?)
The problems arise becaue placing some kind of metaphysical value on objects we create for ourselves to use completely degrades the actual physical value of it it's purpose. For instance, some might decide that since their great ^n Grandfather built this bookshelf, it should sit in the attic to avoid getting damaged and losing it's "value". But the bookshelf's value is based on how well it holds books!! The bookshelf WANTS to hold books. If it actually DID have human consciousness and sat in the attic book-less, it would be a really sad bookshelf!
Now, I wish I had an explanation for this value displacement. Many would blame organized monotheism, since worshipping an omnipitant, divine being GENERALLY degrades the value of human beings [much less bookshelves :( ]. buuuttt.... who can really say?
My advice: When you place "value", whether it be on a bookshelf, a cathedral, a steak, a twenty bag or even, here's a shocker, YOURSELF, place it with care and for the right reason. Placing value on something is a huge dedication of YOUR energy! Value the appropriate manifestations of what/where/who ever you are deciding to value, because if you don't, your contribution of pure human conscious ENERGY in this world is misplaced and therefore WASTED. There is no shortage of wasted value today, I think we can all agree on that.
So do yourself a favor: Appreciate your bookshelf for the right reasons. In doing so, you'll appreciate yourself for the right reasons and in further doing so the world will appreciate YOU for the right reasons.
I think it's funny the way humans "humanize" everything they come in contact with. Marx would say that the process of say, building a skyscraper, requires a certain amount of highly valuable productive energy spawning from the counciousness of a living, breathing, thinking human. As a result of this extertion of human energy, The Produced suddenly gains a sense of "humanness" just through being produced by a human.
It makes sense, especially since Marx goes on to say that since this human extertion is so valueable, all of it should be valued in the eyes of society on an equal level, as opposed to... say... being worth 30 cents a day only because you happen to be located in a Singapore wharehouse. All of this I completely agree with, but is steering me off track.
However, if what is produced suddenly has some level of human VALUE as a "consciousness", then the mataphysical laws of matter versus energy are completely invalid. Think about the associations people make between a completely useable bookshelf they found in a dumpster, versus the bookshelf their great great great great grand father built back in the day. Both of these things fulfill their physical purpose, however, the one with some form of human conciousness embedded in it has more "value". Some people defend their great- to- the- nth- power grand father's bookshelf (or *insert object with sentimental value here*) to the DEATH, which is ironic because in such a case the end of actual human conciousness (as we know it) results for the continuation of completely fabricated human conciousness!
Cathedrals are also an example of the sillyness that humans associate inanimant matter with. For some reason, these buildings are build for some specific non- "physical" purpose; that is, not to be used for the production of something, as would be a house (the "production" of a family) or a buisness or the like. Rather, they are built to the dedication of a purely human, non-productive, spiritual characteristic and that gives stone and gold foil societal "value" untouchable by even todays modern government.
Now, when taking about comparitively less important objects like bookshelves and buildings, this is relatively harmless to the masses. The notion of AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a completely different matter, in my eyes. It is problamatic to assume that just because humans build a robot, it will suddenly be animated with the conscious manifestation of "humanness". In fact, it's just silly. A bookshelf is just a bookshelf. It holds books and is made of wood and is what it is. It's not a bookshelf until you form wood in to the shape and capabilities of a bookshelf, but then it only inherantly is "bookshelfness". Nothing more, nothing less. A cathedral is a building, it doesnt matter what you do in it. The cathedral's job is to encase humans in protective stone for however long they decide to stand in it. A robot is a robot. made for whatever purposes robots are made for. (who can peredict?)
The problems arise becaue placing some kind of metaphysical value on objects we create for ourselves to use completely degrades the actual physical value of it it's purpose. For instance, some might decide that since their great ^n Grandfather built this bookshelf, it should sit in the attic to avoid getting damaged and losing it's "value". But the bookshelf's value is based on how well it holds books!! The bookshelf WANTS to hold books. If it actually DID have human consciousness and sat in the attic book-less, it would be a really sad bookshelf!
Now, I wish I had an explanation for this value displacement. Many would blame organized monotheism, since worshipping an omnipitant, divine being GENERALLY degrades the value of human beings [much less bookshelves :( ]. buuuttt.... who can really say?
My advice: When you place "value", whether it be on a bookshelf, a cathedral, a steak, a twenty bag or even, here's a shocker, YOURSELF, place it with care and for the right reason. Placing value on something is a huge dedication of YOUR energy! Value the appropriate manifestations of what/where/who ever you are deciding to value, because if you don't, your contribution of pure human conscious ENERGY in this world is misplaced and therefore WASTED. There is no shortage of wasted value today, I think we can all agree on that.
So do yourself a favor: Appreciate your bookshelf for the right reasons. In doing so, you'll appreciate yourself for the right reasons and in further doing so the world will appreciate YOU for the right reasons.