http://nautil.us/issue/47/consciousness/is-matter-conscious
“The possibility that consciousness is the real concrete stuff of reality, the fundamental hardware that implements the software of our physical theories, is a radical idea. It completely inverts our ordinary picture of reality in a way that can be difficult to fully grasp. But it may solve two of the hardest problems in science and philosophy at once.”
“That said, we have always been dominated by algorithms: religions, which form an inseparable part of the history of mankind and still govern significant aspects of the habits and existence of millions of people, are no more than a set of algorithms designed to regulate certain behaviors.”
http://nautil.us/issue/42/fakes/is-physical-law-an-alien-intelligence
“Part of the fabric of the universe is a product of intelligence.”
“Maybe there’s something about life itself that affects the cosmos.”
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/we-dont-live-in-a-simulation?utm_source=mbtwitter
“In a nutshell, what could this simulation be made of? If the reality we see were a simulation, we should assume that the simulator is made of altogether different stuff that, by definition, we could not even conceive (it should be made of something completely different from everything we meet in our world). While the notion that there is a base reality and additional levels of reality is both appealing and enthralling, we have evidence of only one level of reality. The world we live in is just made of objects.”
I’m a little hesitant to publish this.. because this guy doesn’t seem to really know what he’s talking about.. or just is really lacking in imagination. To me it’s just more interesting that people are trying to refute Elon’s statement. There of course is no way it prove or disprove Elon Musk’s statement. I can claim there are unicorns living outside the Universe, but since we can’t get outside of our Universe there is no way to prove/disprove it. The author of this article doesn’t seem to understand the nature of simulation, and potential power of simulation. My understanding of his argument is basically, “The apple that looks so conceiving to Musk on a VR computer screen would be utterly disappointing for a butterfly looking for a home or for a Robin looking for a worm.” But.. that doesn’t really make any sense. The worm and/or robin would simulated as well.. as well as the inside of the apple.
Here is an example of what is Elon is saying:
(This is not a real house.. just CGI rendering in a new game engine)
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/elon-musk-simulated-universe-hypothesis
“The strongest argument for us being in a simulation, probably being in a simulation is the following: 40 years ago, we had pong, two rectangles and a dot,” Musk said. “That is what games were. Now 40 years later we have photorealistic 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously and it’s getting better every year. And soon we’ll have virtual reality, augmented reality, if you assume any rate of improvement at all, the games will become indistinguishable from reality.”
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/30/ants-are-summoning-musks-demon.html
“I’m increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight at the national and international level just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish. With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon,” said Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors
Interesting use of the word “demon”.
I think the fear is less about AI being “evil” in the traditional sense.. but more just not really caring at all about humanity. It would most likely view humans as we view an ant colony that gets in the way of our yard work. “It was for the greater good”.
Most scientists disagree about when it’s going to happen.. but they all agree it will: There will an intelligence explosion. At some point in our future (10-50 years) computers will get to the point where they can improve themselves.. and then improve themselves faster.. and faster. So, what happens then? Does that mean they’ll take over the world? Will they solve all of our problems? Our culture is rife with Terminator-style scenarios where they quickly crush us or enslave us (The Matrix). It’s easy to laugh off and carry on with the ho-hum of life, but I think there is an opportunity here to have a discussion. What does this mean for us as humans? Were we just a brief stop on evolution’s inevitable path? Do we become gods ourselves? What does this mean for God and/or gods? Is this an opportunity or the end of all things “human”? Also, if this is possible.. isn’t is a bit naive to assume it hasn’t happened already?
