In a message dated 3/25/2001 9:46:07 PM Eastern Standard Time,
fehlinger@home.com writes:
<< Too soon, seemingly,
he comes to his end. But when he is done he will not be
nothing, not as though he had never been; for he is eternally
a beauty in the eternal form of things...'"
-- _Last and First Men_, Chapter XVI, "The Last of Man",
Section 3. "Epilogue".
Jim F. >>
Jim, those British and there love for the elegiacal. It sounds just like
protagonists at the end of the novel "Shape of Things to Come", by H.G.
Wells. "Its the stars or nothing!..I'm a little black rain cloud, tut tut"
Its inspiring and yet its not like Murphy and Bubba having a beer in some
cheery, watering hole. In fact, its not like Larry Niven's characters,
especially Known Space characters, where at least, we can see people having a
good time.
If Great Brains arrive before people have access to an ultra-smart AI SI, the
GB's might be the singularity-makers, rather then Star Makers. Why? Because
maybe these folks are so pride-filled, that like Pinky, in Pinky and the
Brain, some would want to take over the world. I call this neurosis MBE,
Management By Ego. Hopefully they would be smart enough to demur from this
pursuit, but I raise it as an ugly, possibility. So maybe HAL 9000, aka Mr.
Roboto, aka Mr. Data, aka Tobor the Great, is a real pal of the human
species, a leveling effect? Maybe?
Mitch
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