So does this mean you really have given up on the Ray Kurzweil fantasy of a benign Singularity that's going to make us all fabulously transhuman and immortal? Now that I'm no longer feeling the fading glow of Kurzweil's wild-eyed optimism, I'm realizing that most folks are simply not useful or interesting enough to be worth turning into transhumans.
That, and it would get kinda crowded at the top...
I'm pretty sure Vernor Vinge is the closest of all of these writers to the truth, whatever that is, and he can be relentlessly depressing about the fate of us all.
Which is not to say that I'm not planning to live forever. I fully plan on being the best ambiguously-motivated-but-bordering-on-evil trickster god you can imagine. One of my bosses at Apollo Group (one of the cool ones, who now works for Google) asked us what we'd like to be when we grow up. I thought about it and told him, quite earnestly, that I wanted to be a Bond villain. Of course, trickster god sounds better to me now, so that's what I'm shooting for. I'm going to live forever and bask in the worship of my people. When I'm not blowing their shit up or giving them all sentient herpes, of course.
How do I get there? Why, by being a sneaky, tricky bastard, of course. Survival skills for a new millennium. Hell, survival skills for the Singularity! Cheat, steal, lie. Hey, it was good enough for the Kennedys (their fortune was made as robber barons IIRC) and the Carnegys and... well, just about every wealthy and influential family out there. Except I'm not going to be stealing currency of any conventional sort, except temporarily to fund my absorption of various entities that I need. No, I'm gonna be stealing the real stuff - knowledge, and control over other people's shit.
Of course, it's tough to be loving and respectful of friends when you realize they have utility, right?
I guess what I'm saying is, it pays to be a sociopath. And raving egomania doesn't hurt either. Ahem.
So it was really cool seeing you at FC 2011! Sorry we didn't get to talk or hang out more, but I had fun, and it looks as though you did too. If I head up to Seattle again sometime, I do hope we get a chance to kick back and have a deep conversation, maybe talk books.
All I ask is that if you ever happen upon the magnificent edifice that is my being at some far future date, please mind the new flesh as you and your compatriots spelunk down into me. It would be a pity if a poorly-placed foot dislodged a memory! Of course, I highly encourage you to steal whatever you need, to make your own Promethean nut...
I want to laugh at this comment, but it's difficult -- not because I think you'd make a good sociopath, but because the system, now as a century ago, rewards sociopaths. What else do you call the people who crashed the economy, took all the bailout cash, and are now living higher on the hog than ever, while the last of the middle class dissolves into penury? And they aren't doing Bond-villain things -- none of them has a great big plan for reshaping the world as we know it, they just want to protect and expand their wealth. As John Robb says (I am becoming such a fanboy of that dude) global capitalism is "morally neutral", which means that humanity has created an artificial system that's as callous as the unfriendly universe it found itself in when it first awakened to sentience. Good job, naked apes. :)
Anyway, along with our hilariously inadequate response to the end of cheap fossil energy, the entropically predatory nature of contemporary global capitalism has pretty much done for my Singularitarian dream. Now I'm hoping to be a small part of making something that doesn't suck on the local level. "Doesn't suck", of course, being kind of subjective.
And yeah, it was very cool to run into you at FC. Do drop me a line if you make it up to the PNW -- it would be fun to have that conversation.
Sadly, I had no idea who John Robb was, so I did a bit of Googling and now have reading material for later!
In all seriousness, I haven't exactly given up on my dreams, but I've definitely given up on the idea of Singularitarianism - what a mouthful! - as Kurzweil and others have defined it, because I don't think it is going to pass that the Singularity will involve everyone at an equal level, and in fact most humans won't be viewed as partners at all. No, most humans will get ground up in it or used as fodder for... something.
The Singularity may not be for everyone, but everyone will be for the Singularity, whether or not everyone is for the Singularity.
(An aside: As Vernor Vinge pointed out, maybe it's not such a great idea to build a transcendent intelligence using “tooth and claw” as the basis - flesh has too many ingrained instincts and emotional failings.)
Anyway, in all the bullshit I was blathering about above, there's one signal in the noise. I guess I'm trying to say that it's OK to dream big, bigger than the local level. Maybe those dreams are delusional, but they can be helpful. They can carry us through.
And just because I can laugh at my own cognitive blinders sometimes, I actually tried doing a Google search on “PNW convention” because I overlooked the definite article in front of PNW, thus not realizing it was just a generic abbreviation for the geographic region you're now in. That got me some interesting hits, including a convention dedicated to people who were recovering addicts. (Somehow, that just didn't seem right...)
But yeah, it just so happens I have other friends who live up that way, so if I visit them, I'll be dropping you guys a line as well.
...now you're making me want to get more writing done again. And I don't mean blogging...
That, and it would get kinda crowded at the top...
I'm pretty sure Vernor Vinge is the closest of all of these writers to the truth, whatever that is, and he can be relentlessly depressing about the fate of us all.
Which is not to say that I'm not planning to live forever. I fully plan on being the best ambiguously-motivated-but-bordering-on-evil trickster god you can imagine. One of my bosses at Apollo Group (one of the cool ones, who now works for Google) asked us what we'd like to be when we grow up. I thought about it and told him, quite earnestly, that I wanted to be a Bond villain. Of course, trickster god sounds better to me now, so that's what I'm shooting for. I'm going to live forever and bask in the worship of my people. When I'm not blowing their shit up or giving them all sentient herpes, of course.
How do I get there? Why, by being a sneaky, tricky bastard, of course. Survival skills for a new millennium. Hell, survival skills for the Singularity! Cheat, steal, lie. Hey, it was good enough for the Kennedys (their fortune was made as robber barons IIRC) and the Carnegys and... well, just about every wealthy and influential family out there. Except I'm not going to be stealing currency of any conventional sort, except temporarily to fund my absorption of various entities that I need. No, I'm gonna be stealing the real stuff - knowledge, and control over other people's shit.
Of course, it's tough to be loving and respectful of friends when you realize they have utility, right?
I guess what I'm saying is, it pays to be a sociopath. And raving egomania doesn't hurt either. Ahem.
So it was really cool seeing you at FC 2011! Sorry we didn't get to talk or hang out more, but I had fun, and it looks as though you did too. If I head up to Seattle again sometime, I do hope we get a chance to kick back and have a deep conversation, maybe talk books.
All I ask is that if you ever happen upon the magnificent edifice that is my being at some far future date, please mind the new flesh as you and your compatriots spelunk down into me. It would be a pity if a poorly-placed foot dislodged a memory! Of course, I highly encourage you to steal whatever you need, to make your own Promethean nut...
Reply
I want to laugh at this comment, but it's difficult -- not because I think you'd make a good sociopath, but because the system, now as a century ago, rewards sociopaths. What else do you call the people who crashed the economy, took all the bailout cash, and are now living higher on the hog than ever, while the last of the middle class dissolves into penury? And they aren't doing Bond-villain things -- none of them has a great big plan for reshaping the world as we know it, they just want to protect and expand their wealth. As John Robb says (I am becoming such a fanboy of that dude) global capitalism is "morally neutral", which means that humanity has created an artificial system that's as callous as the unfriendly universe it found itself in when it first awakened to sentience. Good job, naked apes. :)
Anyway, along with our hilariously inadequate response to the end of cheap fossil energy, the entropically predatory nature of contemporary global capitalism has pretty much done for my Singularitarian dream. Now I'm hoping to be a small part of making something that doesn't suck on the local level. "Doesn't suck", of course, being kind of subjective.
And yeah, it was very cool to run into you at FC. Do drop me a line if you make it up to the PNW -- it would be fun to have that conversation.
Reply
Sadly, I had no idea who John Robb was, so I did a bit of Googling and now have reading material for later!
In all seriousness, I haven't exactly given up on my dreams, but I've definitely given up on the idea of Singularitarianism - what a mouthful! - as Kurzweil and others have defined it, because I don't think it is going to pass that the Singularity will involve everyone at an equal level, and in fact most humans won't be viewed as partners at all. No, most humans will get ground up in it or used as fodder for... something.
The Singularity may not be for everyone, but everyone will be for the Singularity, whether or not everyone is for the Singularity.
(An aside: As Vernor Vinge pointed out, maybe it's not such a great idea to build a transcendent intelligence using “tooth and claw” as the basis - flesh has too many ingrained instincts and emotional failings.)
Anyway, in all the bullshit I was blathering about above, there's one signal in the noise. I guess I'm trying to say that it's OK to dream big, bigger than the local level. Maybe those dreams are delusional, but they can be helpful. They can carry us through.
And just because I can laugh at my own cognitive blinders sometimes, I actually tried doing a Google search on “PNW convention” because I overlooked the definite article in front of PNW, thus not realizing it was just a generic abbreviation for the geographic region you're now in. That got me some interesting hits, including a convention dedicated to people who were recovering addicts. (Somehow, that just didn't seem right...)
But yeah, it just so happens I have other friends who live up that way, so if I visit them, I'll be dropping you guys a line as well.
...now you're making me want to get more writing done again. And I don't mean blogging...
Reply
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