[ExI] Just some thoughts, nothing new really

[Stuart LaForge]

Quoting BillK:


> Who gets to decide to invade Iraq based on fictitious evidence and end
> up killing millions of people?

It was the "Coalition of the Schilling" aka lying jerks. The question  
should really be Who knew the evidence was fake? Quite possibly the  
same people who will try to convince you that by implanting a  
remotely-detonated explosive monitoring and tracking chip into your  
brain stem, they are protecting you from the bad guys.

> Your theory is nice, but that's not the world we live in.
> There is an old saying 'Follow the money'. Pay attention to what they
> do - not what they say.
> The huge investment in surveillance, AI and the military industrial
> machine far outstrips the pocket money allocated to space exploration.

It's not a theory, nor even a prediction, it is simply a hedging  
strategy for the long-term survival of the species, come what may. But  
it is the lying jerks who get to decide what strategy to use so it may  
be a lost cause. Still if we are truly alone in the universe, then we  
owe it to the universe to do our best to survive, lest the universe  
forget its own beauty and splendor.

>> Humans simmering with constant warfare sounds safer to me than AI Borg
>> Hive Minds waging war with the weapons they would have at THEIR
>> disposal. Not to mention the fact that if humans change so drastically
>> as to be the cells of a hive-mind, then that would be a whole new
>> post-human species anyway. So the human species would be extinct
>> regardless if a few Borg drones contained some of our DNA.
>>
>
> That's probably a likely future path. As nanotech, fusion power, etc.
> gets developed that means that more powerful weapons will also be
> developed. Humanity will have to redesign themselves as a species to
> control the ever more powerful technologies. I doubt that Hive Minds
> will be waging war. The whole point of going down that path is to stop
> conflict which could mean the extinction of the species.

And my criticism of that path is that it won't work for its stated  
purpose because conflict between individuals will be replaced with  
conflict between Hive Minds. Just like multicellularity eliminated  
conflict, imperfectly mind you, between related cells and replaced it  
with big fish eating little fish. Eusocial insect colonies don't get  
along with each other so why would Hive Minds be any different?

Come on. You Brits couldn't stay in the Catholic Church and you  
couldn't stay in the European Union, what on Earth makes you think you  
folks could tolerate being in the same Hive Mind as Russia, North  
Korea, Israel, and Iran?

Plus think about the wars that would be necessary to force all the  
different cultures and values systems of the world into the same Hive  
Mind. So will the Hive Mind eat pork or not? Next thing you know, you  
have will have Kosher Hive Minds, Shariah Hive Minds, Vegan Hive Minds  
and then round and round it goes. Ultimately AI is just software and  
data both of which are easy to copy.

Through competition, conflict is integral to life, intelligence, and  
progress. In some sense intelligence, both natural and artificial, is  
simply a competition between neurons for activation with the resulting  
outputs determined by which coalition of neurons "wins" the  
competition resulting in a decision. So a brain can't even make a  
decision without conflict. So the development of Hive Minds won't  
eliminate conflict, they will simply push it up the trophic scale.

>> Diaspora is our only true hope. And if you are going to engineer
>> humanity, than for evolution's sake engineer it to survive the rigors
>> of space and not simply to be a more obedient cog in the big machine.
>
> I doubt that humanity has enough time left to do that. AI and weaponry
> is racing ahead while achieving survivable colonies on other planets
> is far behind. If Diaspora is achieved it will be done by the
> survivors of the tech development race.
> And they might not look much like us.

You might be right but we humans are a resourceful lot. Even as the  
dinosaurs are both extinct but also live on as birds, some of us might  
survive. Changed no doubt but recognizable. Establishing the correct  
relationship with AI would probably be something the survivors would  
have in common. Perhaps we could even hitch rides with them all over  
the galaxy, like their microbiome or something.

Stuart LaForge