poly: Re:singleton scenario & Gaia

For an illustration of Nick Bostrum's singleton scenario, resulting in a
situation with a highly diverse internal (and mostly benign) structure, see
the end of my novel EARTH, in which the singleton 'Gaia' takes its final
form almost exactly as a result of the to-the-wire sort of singularity
competition Nick describes. It includes the self-interest behavior that
Nick describes, in which Gaia encourages competition among its sub-units
(us) but insists on rules (e.g. ecology & fair play) for the good of the
commons (Herself). This still leaves a lot of room for
competition-generated advancement, one of the book's major themes.

I appreciate Damien's suggestion that a Transparent Society may be an
alternative approach to reaching the same overall state. I had not seen
how closely my themes seem to correlate. Now I must try to break this
pattern next time, or get very depressed.

David Btin
Received on Mon Apr 27 18:14:50 1998