Trajectories of Intelligence

Came across a book review of Superintelligence. There have been several mentions recently of a fear of our species being superceded by various possible trajectories: artificial intelligence, genetic modifications, ? It seems to that there is an issue of perspective here. What is this life we have about? Is this form, state of being we want for the rest of the foreseeable future? The universe is changing constantly, creating more complex forms. Our is simply part of that trajectory. It is not the best, not the worst. It is simply a point in the journey. If we don't trust the journey, and are fearful of the paths it may take, does that make it more difficult to embrace the unfolding we are part of and ride the wave better? If we cling to fast to the present and the past, does that impede the journey, or is that too part of the journey?

Money - a different model?

Reading a book review about the autobiography of money led to a lunch time conversation and out of that conversation arose some thoughts on the nature of money. The underlying foundational premise is that the complexity we see arises from simple rules and an evolutionary process / flow in the context of this existence.

We have gravity as a basic relationship among entities. Gravity can be thought of as a relationship between entities with mass. The gross structure of the universe, the shape, distribution of matter  in to galaxies, clusters, solar systems, .... depends in large part on this one simple (?) relationship.

We can extend this notion of relationship to mammals as an "alpha" in a group organizes the structure of the group. In the initial context of this relationship among mammals, the attribute that creates this structure is physical strength. As the complexity of  mammalian societies increase, a different attribute is necessary to manage that complexity in a viable way. Money becomes the attribute which organizes the social structures. He/she/they who has it has the "mass"/ physical power/force to organize/create more complex forms of organization (societies).

A question that arises is what is the next attribute that becomes "mass" to create yet more complex forms of organization - a global society, a solar system society, a galactic society, ...?

And not that the nature of evolutionary process is generally to transcend and include. We still have dictators, bullies who rule based on physical power / force. At the next stage, we'll still have people who'll use money for unhealthy purposes.

Portents of a Looming War

It has been 70+ years since the last world war. And I see portents of a another one coming:

Rethinking Type of Knowledge

Revisiting a previous post on the types of knowledge: Perhaps the trajectory is not types of knowledge, but something perhaps a bit more fundamental in the nature and direction of this existence.

Types of Knowledge

Saw the movie Lucy and it generated the notion that there are two types of knowledge:

• Manifested knowledge - examples of this are how cells work. The way cells process dna, rna, make proteins, allows certain particles in through the cell membrane, keep others out, ....
• Conceptual knowledge - our disciplines of study like physics, biology, chemistry, ... are models of how we think things work. We can use these models more or less effectively.

This thought stream then led to the notion that it is really a spectrum and the key element is time - manifested knowledge seems to have no knowledge of future - just has built in certain patterns and processes. Conceptual knowledge at the other end of the sprectrum has a notion of how things work, how they could work, and how they will work.

Possible Trajectories of Existence

Projections of the future:

•  in cosmology there are many possible scenarios
• used to be between two possiblities: gravitational collapse back to another big bang or a heat death of the universe as all the star burn out and entropy conquers all.
• Currently the view of the accelerating and expanding universe seems to be a combination of heat death and loneliness of galaxies as all spread out further and further from each other.
• in religion:
• Final judgment and heaven and hell
• Endless cycling / Lila, play of the gods

 I would suggest another possible trajectory by looking at what is right under our noses, literally, the breath of life. There is also an increasing pattern of complexification going on, to wit, life. This increasing pattern will, like a bacterial colony that expands, take over the entire universe. The substance of the universe, space, time, energy, becomes the substrate on which greater and greater levels of complexity (and consciousness) arise. Until the entire substrate is consumed ias the substrate of a vast consciousness of this bubble universe. Then this bubble becomes aware of other bubbles, and the process continues ad infinitum.

Examples of Primate Psychology in the Common Place

This posting started out as an attempt to articulate primate behaviour from a non-primate perspective. In the process a realization occurred that this was an example of primate behaviour to mimic / mirror primate behaviour:

Values, Behavior, and Precedence

There is an interesting Moral Foundation Theory  proposed by Jonathon Haidt that that we have (at least) 6 different innate moral foundations upon which various moralities are developed. These innate types can be likened to Jung's archetypes ala the Meyers-Briggs typology. We have these types at a level below conscious choice - built in types (so to speak). The six foundations are Care/harm, Fairness/cheating, Liberty/oppression, Loyalty/betrayal, Sanctity/degradation, Authority/subversion. The order we apply these foundations to a given situation can be different for different people. And that can result in vary different understanding / evaluation / answers to the same situation

On The Nature of Existence

An attempt to construct a rational argument on the nature of existence while keeping Occam's Razor in mind and trying to make as few assumptions as possible.