From: John Grigg (starman2100@lycos.com)
Date: Mon Oct 15 2001 - 19:38:14 MDT
Spike:
>Eli, you know Ive gone full circle about 20 times on the singularity.
>I'm as baffled now as ever.
Spike, don't forget your apostrophes when conversing with Eliezer! lol It will be very interesting to see how things ACTUALLY turn out. Of course, I don't have an understanding of the singularity like either of you. I have always simply gone with the notion that in my early sixties the world will be UTTERLY TRANSFORMED. And Eliezer will walk through the streets with a big smile on his face. It may be very retro to either walk or smile, but I see him doing it out of a sense of nostalgia.
Eliezer:
> Everyone repeat after me: "Knowing how to plan for an 8-year cutoff time
> does not mean that I am restricted to planning for an 8-year cutoff time...
Eliezer will make a great parent for teenagers.
Spike:
>OK got it. Now where is that singularity terminology site? I think
>you may have posted it before.
Yes, where is this singularity terminology site? I need to learn more about the various singularity scenarios out there. Of course, hard takeoff is the only one to be believed. : )
Eliezer:
> Of course, planning for beyond 2030 is IMHO pretty silly, unless it's a
> nuclear war or Baylor Jihad scenario.
Considering how Moore's law seems to be steaming down the tracks with no unpenetrable brick walls coming up to block the way I tend to agree. Researchers seem to be able to find their way either through or around what problems have come up. I have hope in the future ingenuity of scientists and engineers.
As for nanotech, even the Scientific American crowd seem to be going our way. And I still remember the S.A. article which called nano, "cargo cult science." Personally, I don't see the road to advanced nanotech being quite as thornfree as that of computing power. But, in the end I believe we will attain what Eric Drexler envisioned.
I'm still smarting over the Michael Shermer article on cryonics in the nanotech special edition of Scientific American. I felt beaten down by it upon initial reading. Later, I just wanted to shake the guy really hard(I need to work on that).
If Shermer were an extropian(very negative about cryonics though), Max could raise a lot of money by allowing people to purchase $50 tickets to throw a big, wet sponge at his face! Of course, we would have to get his permission to actually do it...
Spike:
>I think we argued this about 3 yrs ago. Ill check the archives.
Discussions and arguments tend to never really die on the extrolist. They just come back in a somewhat different form, and perhaps with different people debating the subject.
Eliezer:
> But I actually do try to visualize nuclear war scenarios...
Cool! As a young boy I did all the time. My Air Force father would scare me with stories of how the Russians were the boogeyman. But, he would reassure me that if they nuked America into a fiery ruin, that our massive retaliation would destroy their nation as well. The thought warmed my little heart and allowed me to sleep. ; )
Spike:
>I try not to.
What disturbs me more are images of an effective biowarfare attack. Especially considering the news lately.
John
Make a difference, help support the relief efforts in the U.S.
http://clubs.lycos.com/live/events/september11.asp
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:11:24 MST