SpaceweaverThu, Jun 12, 2008 Rene: I am looking forward to read your series about the age of optimization. I wonder though, if the word 'age' is still appropriate for processes that will take place and culminate within a couple of decades at the most. It seems to me, that ours is the last age.
Wildcat: I read Thailard de Cardin's 'end of history', not in the sense that Fukuyama meant, but rather as an early reference to what we call today the singularity. It seems that Thailard's description was somewhat biased by his religious background, that made him emphasize history as having a goal. I agree, history has no goal, and moreover it can hardly be described as a process, much less a purposeful process. The same goes for evolution in general. Process and goals are features of our narratives as observers. They are not intrinsic neither to history nor to evolution.
Having said this, de Chardin adds an interesting perspective to the concept of singularity: The process culminating in singularity as we understand it today, is driven by the acceleration of information based technologies. Ray Kurzweil describes this in great detail in his book "The singularity is near". The point I read in Thailard's description is that the process leading to singularity is driven by crossing thresholds of interconnectivity (and consequently of complexity). I think this is a very valuable insight, complementary and consistent with the idea of acceleration.
As to the second part of your comment, I think that the ontology of 'self' is entirely subjective, and based on the very ability of human minds to form images in general, and self referencing images in particular. Your question is not easily answerable, I doubt if it is answerable at all. The reason is that I find it virtually impossible within our current conceptual framework to clearly distinguish between what we already are, what we imagine ourselves to be, and what we envision we would like to become. The issue is not linguistic, or even psychological, it is philosophical in nature and at its core metaphysical. Currently we lack the tools that will allow us to relate to your question in a really effective way.
If our future needs a grand planning project, and it seems to me that it critically needs one, I would start with the philosophical foundations of our future mind habitat. I would try to focus on how to ask the big questions in a manner that escapes the simplistic goal oriented perspective of evolution especially when it comes to our evolution as conscious beings.
Rene: I am looking forward to read your series about the age of optimization. I wonder though, if the word 'age' is still appropriate for processes that will take place and culminate within a couple of decades at the most. It seems to me, that ours is the last age.
Wildcat: I read Thailard de Cardin's 'end of history', not in the sense that Fukuyama meant, but rather as an early reference to what we call today the singularity. It seems that Thailard's description was somewhat biased by his religious background, that made him emphasize history as having a goal. I agree, history has no goal, and moreover it can hardly be described as a process, much less a purposeful process. The same goes for evolution in general. Process and goals are features of our narratives as observers. They are not intrinsic neither to history nor to evolution.
Having said this, de Chardin adds an interesting perspective to the concept of singularity: The process culminating in singularity as we understand it today, is driven by the acceleration of information based technologies. Ray Kurzweil describes this in great detail in his book "The singularity is near". The point I read in Thailard's description is that the process leading to singularity is driven by crossing thresholds of interconnectivity (and consequently of complexity). I think this is a very valuable insight, complementary and consistent with the idea of acceleration.
As to the second part of your comment, I think that the ontology of 'self' is entirely subjective, and based on the very ability of human minds to form images in general, and self referencing images in particular. Your question is not easily answerable, I doubt if it is answerable at all. The reason is that I find it virtually impossible within our current conceptual framework to clearly distinguish between what we already are, what we imagine ourselves to be, and what we envision we would like to become. The issue is not linguistic, or even psychological, it is philosophical in nature and at its core metaphysical. Currently we lack the tools that will allow us to relate to your question in a really effective way.
If our future needs a grand planning project, and it seems to me that it critically needs one, I would start with the philosophical foundations of our future mind habitat. I would try to focus on how to ask the big questions in a manner that escapes the simplistic goal oriented perspective of evolution especially when it comes to our evolution as conscious beings.