meganmayWed, Dec 19, 2007 This makes me think of a few things at once. some of which may be very tangential.
#1
algorithms as being key to the future of everything including digital warfare and the ability to move freely through whatever barriers are posed in digital space. algorithms are key to grasping the immaterial which makes them as or more powerful than agents that allow us to transform the material world, like corrosive liquids or chain saws.
#2
it seems logical to me that the 'algoritm' that produces human thought must have, throughout the course of our evolution, discarded anything that wasn't important to us leaving us with a specfici set of parameters for perceiving and existing in the world. The limits of sensory perception are definitely part of the equation, although we are doing out best to get beyond those.
#3
it also reminds me of the conversation ensuing on al's infinity post, where someone said we weren't necessarily built to perceive infinity, and likewise, the difficulty posed by the human brain trying to understand itself is, if nothing else, amusing. And it seems like so much of what human beings have put into the world, including computers and computer simulations, have been in the service of understanding ourselves by projecting into the outside world and looking back.
#4
At one point i thought this was leading up to the inevitable creation of intelligent machines who were like us. We would only finally understand ourselves when we'd superceeded ourselves. I'll refrain from being super rational about that hypotehsis and leave it at that.
This makes me think of a few things at once. some of which may be very tangential.
#1
algorithms as being key to the future of everything including digital warfare and the ability to move freely through whatever barriers are posed in digital space. algorithms are key to grasping the immaterial which makes them as or more powerful than agents that allow us to transform the material world, like corrosive liquids or chain saws.
#2
it seems logical to me that the 'algoritm' that produces human thought must have, throughout the course of our evolution, discarded anything that wasn't important to us leaving us with a specfici set of parameters for perceiving and existing in the world. The limits of sensory perception are definitely part of the equation, although we are doing out best to get beyond those.
#3
it also reminds me of the conversation ensuing on al's infinity post, where someone said we weren't necessarily built to perceive infinity, and likewise, the difficulty posed by the human brain trying to understand itself is, if nothing else, amusing. And it seems like so much of what human beings have put into the world, including computers and computer simulations, have been in the service of understanding ourselves by projecting into the outside world and looking back.
#4
At one point i thought this was leading up to the inevitable creation of intelligent machines who were like us. We would only finally understand ourselves when we'd superceeded ourselves. I'll refrain from being super rational about that hypotehsis and leave it at that.