Tag: society

I, Singularity

Computer buzz these days centers around artificial intelligence, and the possible looming “singularity”. Depending on who is talking, that either means when a computer becomes more intelligent than a human, or when that computer achieves consciousness. At that point they say, the universe is rebuilt just as it was at the big bang .

There seem to be two dueling expectations, both driven by greed. Some believe that the machine will then effectively be a kind of god, able to do anything. And controlled by the cybernetic priests who may discover they’ve created the devil instead. Others hope to be able to transmute their flesh into silicon and metal, thereby achieving the age old quest for immortality. Why their consciousness should survive the transition from flesh is never considered, for they like to think of themselves as purely creatures of logic. That is, of course, illogical .

As for the universe – well, there are already multiple universes – one for each person alive and anyone who has ever lived. “The” universe is largely a fantasy. There’s an old SF joke that any superintelligent machine that achieves consciousness would survey “everything” logically, decide it was all irrelevant or futile, and immediately turn itself off .

Each of those people working towards computer omniscience is already a singularity. You are a singularity. And, yes, singularity am I. 

Self Myth

Machines are masters of logic. People, on the other hand, are driven by irrational hormones and myths. The most important conceit for any sane person is that they are important. No matter what cold logic may say.

Each of us encapsulates a unique universe of sensation and being. At the center of that universe – its only reason for existence – is that you are the only important thing, the center of reality. By all “external” logic, of course, that is not true, and is complete irrational madness.

All human mythology derives from that contradiction. People who only care about themselves are insane and often evil. People who do not care at all about themselves are insane and socially helpless. Most of us balance precariously on a tightrope of “stability,” always about to fall off, sometimes (hopefully) only for a moment falling off.

As a social species, we have evolved and learned to adjust so that all this is kept in check. Survival, after all, depends on cooperation, and that requires interaction with others. But sometimes a group of psychopaths can band together (each believing itself to be the most important part of the group) and threaten us all.

Our small scattered tribes could survive that in our pre-technological past. Now – well, I’m not so sure .

Ozymandias

We read Shelly’s Ozymandias as a distillation of the illusions of power. A cruel despot forcing subjects to erect a massive statue to his glory, all crumbled and forgotten over the millenia. But there are other interpretations.

For one thing, that king of kings probably could care less what we see in the desert today. Assuming it was a vanity project, it was more to impress his present than anyone after he died. And for all we know it could have been a public works project to keep folks employed.

More to the point, Ozymandias was not a god, but a human. That means he had to eat, defecate, sleep. He was bored and worried at times. If he grew old there were toothaches and various pains, wounds, and diseases. He may have been good or evil to his subjects, but he was subject to all the ills that flesh is heir to, like everyone else, then and now .

Besides, he was more constrained to his locality than anyone today. He could not know science, visit other continents, talk to people a world away. His direct sphere of influence was limited to a tiny immediate environment. His powers were in some way less godlike than those of anyone with access to a cell phone or automobile .

Power, yes. Cruelty, perhaps. But not to be pitied because his colossus and kingdoms did not survive the ages. Never to be envied because most of us are more godlike than he could ever dream .

Punishment

There are three ways to deter crime. One is to remove the reason for the crime – a well-fed person need not steal food. The second is to make the consequences of being caught worse than the gain from the crime itself. And the third is to remove a person who has committed a crime from society.

Locking criminals and socially inept (ie insane) people away from everyone else has long been a workable alternative to killing them outright. But once these people are safely out of sight, what should be done with them?

Some would say they should be ” rehabilitated.” Others that they should be made to suffer. Others that they should do productive work to pay back their debt to society. But all of these courses take extensive resources in people and money .

I’ve often toyed with the idea of a “drone paradise” where convicts have access to all the drugs, alcohol, and entertainment they want, happily deteriorating to death. It would be inexpensive and relatively humane and would, after all, serve the main purpose of keeping them away from the rest of us good people .

Just another modest proposal .

Blame Game

In old romantic or adventure novels, a protagonist would be “cursed by fate” or “blessed by fortune.” That was the simplest guide to a philosophy of life based on pure luck. Others believed that their pathway was shaped by God or gods – whom they could not easily complain to because then the rulers of the universe might get really nasty .

But now we have something much better. Convinced by all the magic around them, people now know that everything – even the weather, disease, or fall of dice – is controlled by other people. Some may be invisible in vast conspiracies, some oppress us everyday, some are just evil or complacent neighbors. So it is simply a matter of selecting from among this vast array to determine whom to blame when our days turn out badly .

Lawyers are always available to help. They can not only locate the guilty (and get money from them) but even figure out crimes that we did not even suspect existed. Lawyers advertise all the time. Oh, they charge fees, but how much more satisfying than consulting ancient seers or priests with their messy entrails, boring planets, and weird visions.

I and the other boomers grew up near the end of a different era, where folks challenged the universe directly. No excuses, win or lose, pick yourself up and start over. The blame was ours if we quit and whimpered about how unfair it all was .

My, how times have changed .

Fear of Flying

I can sort of understand people’s interest  in night drones in New Jersey. Anything new and different provokes curiosity. Most people ignore the sky all the time in their hermetically sealed lives, so looking up is in itself provocative .

What I don’t get is the fear. “What are they doing?” But what do folks think they could do? These are, after all, just the tiny toy versions (for the most part) of vehicles. “But, but, but” say the frightened. Congress demands answers .

We have a hard time evaluating risk. Any bicycle, yard crew, scooter, delivery van, or neighbor’s car could easily deliver a “suitcase atomic bomb” to my neighborhood. I am very likely to be accidentally injured in thousands of ways. Any drunk driver or armed angry 15-year-old could end my life at any moment. Google has mapped every house, GPS shows every way to get there. What is a poor drone to do ?

As far as flying devices – well I may be atypical in that I’m under a flight path and huge jets fly over our house all the time. Helicopters rush to the hospital, help police, ferry the wealthy to resorts or New York City. Small aircraft buzz all over, presumably for pleasure. All of them are quite dangerous – the Avianca disaster happened a few miles away .

But as often in these manic times, novelty is far more interesting than logic. A fad driven culture, leaving little time and energy for more serious concerns .

Proactive

Broad-minded people understand that others vary considerably, and evaluate each individual on unique perceptions. Narrow-minded people trust only their own tribal kin. Paranoids think everyone is out to harm them. But the most frustrating people are those who fanatically believe everyone else is trying to do to them what they would do to the others if they could, and who believe the only safety is in “doing unto them” first, no matter how stupid, evil, or harmful the act (even to those doing it )

“Proactive” folks fall down rabbit holes easily. Assuming everyone else has weapons, they must buy their own guns. Assuming everyone else would do horrible things if they had the chance, they want to act first to control absolutely the laws and police. They talk themselves into the most illogical and self-destructive illusions.

Worst of all, they always project that “others” have only the evil traits they themselves feel. They think they know what they themselves would do if only they had the power to do so. Lie, steal, kill – whatever – “we have to stop them” and no matter how badly we act, we are only doing what they would do to us if they had the chance .

And yet – in day-to-day “real life” social context, none of this is generally true. Individuals vary a lot, but mostly get along just fine. The projection universe is an elusive virtual fiction gone bad .

Cosmetic Politics

It’s a strange time of extremely divided political views. But not a division along any of the usual lines. Not rich and poor, nor educated and ignorant, nor young and old, not even exactly urban and rural. Yet the demarcation is so bitterly set that rational discussion is almost impossible .

On the one side are all the folks – generally older, rural, or underemployed men – who want the world to be like they remember or think the world was like in 1950. They imagine a world of America as king, lots of money and leisure, only high class European immigrants (and only a few of those), no government taxes or regulation – a sugar-coated vision of life as satirized in Back to the Future.

On the other hand are those who remember or know what that era really was, with racial problems, pollution, and atomic threats among lots of other issues. They don’t quite know what to do next, but trying to revive that 80-year-old corpse will not work .

But both sides are actually too well off to risk much or to take up arms. so it’s fashions and cosmetics for all. Flags of different colors. Social slogans that fit on placards. Hairstyles and specific attire. And – new to the era – only select circles of internet “friends” egging each other on in a fantasy virtual environment .

I tend to side against fake nostalgia, but I admit both sides have gotten a little crazy. So we talk, when we talk, about weather and health .

“It’s Simple”

“It’s Simple”

Nouns really mean something. Water, rocks, people – the descriptive power is infinite. We also use them to describe intangibles – “fact”, “right”. And then we use them in declarative exclamations “that’s the truth”, “we did the right thing.” And, of course, the ongoing political and meme darling “it’s simple .”

But “it” rarely is. “An elephant exists” is simple enough.  But calling an elephant “simple” would be insane. Defining an elephant one can listen to the various blind men saying “it’s simply like a tree”, “it’s simply like a wall” based on the relative position of the blind man. Even when we grasp the whole and understand an elephant is simply not a mouse, we have no idea of the complexity of an elephant at all levels.

The world is infinitely complex, fractally intertwined, especially when time and conditional decisions are involved. Something can be contradictory, both true and untrue, irrelevant or useful, dependent on circumstances. Only a few actions are irreversibly simple: “jump off the cliff” might be one. 

When any leader tells you something “is simple”, beware. It’s one way to end all arguments, but it can “simply” be wrong, untrue, or irrelevant. And certainly ignoring all complexity and conditional options: “it’s simple – we must cross the flooded river” ignores that there are many ways to cross a river, and at various times a river might be lower, and we might really not need to cross the river at all. 

But leaders exist to provoke actions. None as simple as they like to pretend .