[p2p-research] Implications of Alpha

[Michel Bauwens]

Hi Ryan,

the point for me is that the system would be enhancing/combining the
existing collective intelligence from mankind, and the algorythms that we
have invented for it ... so, metaphysically speaking, I see no really
profound metaphysical change, just a continuation of building out the
noosphere, as we have been doing increasingly well since the development of
computer networks (what for me was a phase transition was the global
capability for many to many communication, everything else flowing from that
bifurcation point)


Michel

On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 8:43 PM, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Michel:
>
> Imagine the following system:  I trust that if I ask a question with the
> right structure, I will get the answer I wanted, if the question is one of
> facts.
>
> That is the ideal of Alpha.  I could see the ideal being reached...not in
> 2010, but soon...maybe in 10 years.
>
> Now imagine that asking good questions is a knowledge-management ideal...I
> can imagine computers sitting around while we sleep and eat cheese
> formulating questions to themselves and ordering information in all sorts of
> ways.  Could Alpha mean that in 10 years Wikipedia will be written by a
> machine?  Why or why not?
>
> The questions are wonderful as epistemology and also very transhumanist:
> What is inherently human?  What is an argument?  What constitutes a fact?
> Where are the transitions between argument and discourse?  Where are the
> transitions between fact and position?  Alpha is starting to hint at real
> need to debate these items the way Sharky and Wienberger, you, etc. have
> made us think about flatness, leadership, order and identity.
>
> Ryan Lanham
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 7:54 AM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Hi Ryan,
>>
>> this is reminiscent of our debate on the future of universities ... it's
>> an area we differ in I guess,
>>
>> for me, nothing will ever replace the written and verbal dialogue between
>> humans and everything is only a tool to make that better ...
>>
>> yes, perhaps the research paper and blog post will take a more relative
>> place in the broader whole because people are more able to have intelligent
>> dialogues without middlemen
>>
>> but the research paper is still needed as validation mechanism in the
>> existing institutional framework and I don't see a quick end to the
>> democratisation of writing through blogs either ..
>>
>> Michel
>>
>>   On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 1:20 AM, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>>   I've been thinking about Wolfram's Alpha.  The question I'd like to
>>> ask him is, what will it change.
>>>
>>> I saw JOHO's (David Weinberger's) interview.  It was fascinating.
>>>
>>> Here's my 2 cents:  The research paper and the informing blog post may be
>>> dead.  Yes, stringing ideas together to make a point is still useful, but
>>> now anyone can answer a question properly structured.  So, ideas may become
>>> more changes of queries.
>>>
>>> Another separate point, Michel recently sent around an academic Call for
>>> Papers for a P2P conference.  Isn't that a bit odd, inherently?  A COP on
>>> P2P?
>>>
>>>
>>> Ryan Lanham
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Working at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University -
>> http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html -
>> http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>>
>> Volunteering at the P2P Foundation:
>> http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net -
>> http://p2pfoundation.ning.com
>>
>> Monitor updates at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens
>>
>> The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
>> http://www.shiftn.com/
>>
>
>


-- 
Working at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University -
http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html -
http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI

Volunteering at the P2P Foundation:
http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net -
http://p2pfoundation.ning.com

Monitor updates at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens

The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
http://www.shiftn.com/
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