X-Message-Number: 21624 Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2003 09:03:50 -0700 (PDT) From: Scott Badger <> Subject: Re: Musings on the Singularity Hi everyone. It's been a while. Just wanted to quickly express my shock and sadness at Dr. Lemler's recent illness. All of us hope fervently that Jerry recovers as many have before him. You have much to do yet Jerry, so stay with us a bit longer, OK? We're back to the Fermi think, so I couldn't resist chiming in. Mike Perry wrote: >I don't see this "end product" as "inescapable" because I think >"replication" is being over-emphasized. Replication means creating others >like yourself. Advanced beings, I submit, will not do this. They may create >new sentient beings, and those beings will no doubt bear certain >similarities to their creators, but a close resemblance, such as exists >presently between biological life forms and their offspring, does not >necessarily follow. BTW, Hi Mike. Anyway, seems to me that if I was a post singularity SI, There's be little reason to replicate. It would be wiser to maybe more or me ... to create redudant systems to join with my own to better insure my survival and expand my overall self out into the galaxy. It's possible that I would create a group of agent mechanisms that would be intelligent emnough to carry out certain tasks I need completed and these agents may even be self aware... maybe even form social systems within their group... would they think of me a god? I have to say though that I favor the theory I call the "Fermi Box". Where are they? They're in the box. If other intelligent life forms have developed (and I think that's a big if) and achieved singularity status, I suspect they are vastly more interested in exploring the infinite inner worlds of their own minds and the minds of others like them. Try to speculate for a moment on all the amazing worlds that could be created virtually with such super powerful imaginations. Do you really think that the real world would be more interesting? Crossing all that boring space just to get to another typical star system? Yawn. But exploring the landscapes, seascapes, and mindscapes of brother SI's. Now that sounds like an interesting journey. Did you know that there is already more square footage of land in virtual spaces now occupied by vidoe gamers than there is on the actual planet Earth. That's a bit suggestive, don't you think? Yes, there would be millions if not billions of different simulations running in Fermi boxes whereever the singularity happened in the galaxy... which is precisely why the odds seem quite high that the world we are currently living in is one of those simulations. Think of it. If there were billions of "simulated" planets (maybe even simulations within simulations) and say there were only several thousands of "real" planets like ours with intelligent life. Assuming you can't tell whether you're in a simulation or not, you are forced to come to the conclusion that the odds are that you are not on one of the real worlds. You can read much more at: http://www.simulation-argument.com/ ===== Scott Badger, Ph.D. Member: ALCOR, Extropy Insitute, Life Extension Foundation Instructor/Researcher-University of Idaho Four new songs from my album "Burdens" now available at: (www.mp3.com/scottbadger) in addition to: my Transhumanist CD. "Phenom" __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo http://search.yahoo.com Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21624