<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 12:17 PM, BillK <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pharos@gmail.com" target="_blank">pharos@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:</div><div class="gmail_quote">
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<<a href="http://gizmodo.com/10-predictions-about-the-future-that-should-scare-the-h-1783538821" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://gizmodo.com/10-predictions-about-the-future-that-should-scare-the-h-1783538821</a>><br>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​> ​</div>Being of a pessimistic outlook (i.e. a realist)</blockquote><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​I don't think a pessimist is inherently more intelligent than a optimist, although he can write more attention grabbing headlines.  ​</div> </font></div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​>​</div>all ten scenarios seem<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ ​</div>pretty likely to me,</blockquote><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">2. People who transfer their minds to computers are actually killing themselves</blockquote><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​<font size="4">Some of the worries on the list are genuine ( like "</font></div><font size="4">create their own pandemic<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​")​ </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">but that one is just silly. We know for a fact that changes in the physical state of an object can change consciousness and we know for a fact that consciousness can change the physical state of an object. And we also know that Evolution can see intelligent behavior but ​</div> <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​not consciousness, but we also know for a fact that nevertheless Evolution managed to produced at least one thing that was conscious and probably many billions. So it you get the physics right so that intelligent behavior is produced consciousness will come along for the ride.  ​</div></font></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​> ​</div>3. Authoritarianism will make a comeback</blockquote></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">​We'll know more about that after November 8​.</font></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">6. The effects of climate change will be irreversible</blockquote><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">​Who cares? Certainly not me.​</font></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​> ​</div>10. We’ll never make contact with aliens</blockquote><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​<font size="4">We won't if we're the first, and that seems increasingly likely to me, and I think that's optimistic not pessimistic.​</font></div><font size="4"> <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​If we were to find aliens tomorrow their technology couldn't be enormously more advanced than our own or we'd have detected them long ago;  ​that would mean there must be a calamity of some sort that falls on technological civilizations when they get to about the point we're in right now. </div></font></div><div><font size="4"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><br></div></font></div><div><font size="4"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> John K Clark</div></font></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div>