I would be very interested to see whether we could build an AI which is indistinguishable from humans. Not just in its behavior (that's relatively easy to copy I think), but in things like creativity.

I'd be also interested in moving my software to a new, artificial hardware (if that makes sense - I can't really imagine how it would work). Perhaps recreating my brain - structurally - from artificial components and plugging the system in would make the "I" wake up in another center of experience? Now that would be interesting.

On a smaller scale, a mod that would enable me to turn off all external sensory input with the flick of a switch - with the exception of those necessary for motor control, so I can switch the rest on again - would be more than welcome.

How would you feel when your best friend turns out to be a robot who doesn´t realy care for you at all?

That would be the worst nightmare. Building artificial brains is one of the most frankensteinian, unethical things i can think of.

Why not connect ourselves straight away to the giant supercomputer that can do the thinking for us and can decide for us what to do and when and how? Why would we want real friendships when computers could be superiour to all human friendships, knowing exactly how our brains work and how we feel because of superiour facial-expression recognition? Why not plugging ourselves into the matrix when we could build an artificial reality in wich it never rains? Why would we make anything of our lives when computers could theoretically do everything so much better than we?

Oh wait....if computers could really be this powerful, how do you know we´re not being manipulated already?
How would you feel when your best friend turns out to be a robot who doesn´t realy care for you at all? Or when your favorite musician or author would apear not to exist at all, but just a program made especially to appeal to the commercial target-group you belong to according to a program?

What if this whole nexus-site would be one of the many AI-programs develloped by the government to monitor you? How´d you feel about that?

Is it? I mean what exactly our our brains? Real/artificial depends upon point of definition. Did God/evolution play frankenstein with us? Just thoughts that went by as I read your post.



And exactly why would we not make it perfect "if" we could? If we could invent a perfect machine that could never be destroyed that could construct magnificent worlds of beauty why would we not build this machine. Oh wait...we already have this machine except it doesn't last forever. It's our brain. Clearly our brain is capable of forming vasts worlds and realities. If it was possible to switch our brain into Samadhi(call it whatever) mode permanently I'd think that would be a pretty worthy goal...and is surely the only path to true world peace. Agreed this is not the same as machine intelligence directly....or is it?



In so many way's this is exactly what reality really is. Thoughts we have no control over flow threw our brains all day and night. Unless we make great strides to become aware and change we are largely driven by these unconscious thoughts all the time...aka robots.

Why are we the way we are? Simple nurture? Doesn't feel right to me. There is more to our lives than set and setting. It's like we have both freewill and we do not have freewill. Perhaps we have free will to determine how we act in a given situation, but the arising of situations is something we have far less control over than most believe.


For what it's worth I do fear true AI initially. I think this is something a future generation will be better able to handle...hopefully long after I'm actually gone!

If it was possible to switch our brain into Samadhi(call it whatever) mode permanently I'd think that would be a pretty worthy goal...and is surely the only path to true world peace.

Must there not be contrast, though, for anything to exist?

With the aid of things like meditation or mindfullness, one could actually gain a higher level of self-control through reflection and find a balance with those parts of ourselves we cannot be in controll of.

I think your post about 'perfection' shows exactly what i find most scary about these A.I. enthousiasts.

History has shown us too many times what the aim for a 'perfect world' eventually leads to. The book wasn´t called 'brave new world' for no reason.

Doesn't it make sense that in a world of duality a machine that experiences intelligence must also experience ignorance?

Why would the quest for a "perfect"(which itself is a subjective sort of description) AI lead to the discovery of the soul any more than say, playing poker would lead to the discovery of the soul.

it is not the idea that trying new things and progressing can teach us new things that I dont agree with..it is that I dont think there is just one path and I dont believe that it is as simple as saying things like "if things turn out this way etc that it means this or that thing but if it ends up that we find it is this way that it means this thing etc"...

Most people dont even know what it is to function at full capacity so this sort of speculation on what it takes to reach our perfection is limited. Most people do not eat the foods that acted as the building blocks for such advanced nervous systems way back. Most people eat meat, dairy, wheat etc and these are not the foods we evolved such nervous systems with so it makes sense that our current capacity is limited compared to what our potential could be.

I would just not choose to go the path of AI in the sense that it is being discussed here. I just dont see the point or relevance for it in my life. I would rather see people get more in tune with the organic world, tune their bodies with real organic fresh foods and minds with meditation and exploration of the mind..I would rather see a focus on technologies that mirror the organic world, like solar energy with solar panels that are essentially living systems that mirror that of plants..not really artificial life in the sense that we are talking about here, but new way of using the organic matrix around us to replace the crude technological systems we have in place today that are destroying our world.

My vision of where I want to see humans going is somewhere down the line we live in houses that are indestinguishable from living systems..organic homes that are basically plants but nano-engineered without resorting to weird frankenstein technologies like we have today with GMO foods etc..GMO is a perfect example of how technology can be used really poorly to end up with frankenstein sort of results.

I als think that quartz(silicon)based computing is something that our ancestors understood on a level we currently do not and in the future this is a realm that will be deeply explored.

The system around us is already filled with intelligence. If you take some time walking around old growth rainforest and think it lacks intelligence you must be blind. People focus so much on the idea that humans are the only intelligence on this planet and that we somehow sit outside of the rest of the organic matix, they serach in desperation for something that will essentially speak back to them yet they destroy the same system that essentially does just that.

Our computers just do not have the capacity to compute the way the organic matrix of life does. Our role here, IMO is best honored as caretakers of that system..the very system that birthed us. I dont think we are sopposed to go back to living in caves..but we are sopposed to reintegrate into that system on a conscious level..organic based and nano-technologies I think are what will get us back to that place..where we can relive our animistic past yet on a whole new never before seen level.

This is what ayahuasca points to every time. I will take that vision every single time over the idea of downloading my brain into some PC etc..