From: Tony B. Csoka (csoka@itsa.ucsf.edu)
Date: Tue Aug 19 1997 - 18:44:57 MDT
>1.I am thinking about extropy as a *physical* phenomena, a
>possible state of a determined subset of the universe, still
>independent of the existence of life, that would appear "after". So
>it would be anterior, existencially speaking, to even the
>"intelligence" effect... Nevertheless, are you speaking about
>intelligence just when normally considered, as a characteristic of
>already structured organisms, or are you using a more abrangent
>definition of intelligence, like, f. ex., gravity, which exists under
>certain physical conditions, independently and even before the
>existence of life (as we usually conceive..)?
Well, I suppose gravity is necessary for life because without it there
would be no planets, stars etc. I think gravity is very interesting
because we know the least about in comparison to the other forces. More
speculatively, how do we know that we have identified *all* the known
forces that exist in the universe? Maybe extropy is being driven by
forces, or the interaction of forces, that we don't know anything about
yet. The recent discussion of 10+ dimensions adds strength to the argument
that we really don't yet have enough information about the true nature of
physical and non-physical reality to make conclusions about what is
driving extropy. I'm not even sure that we have enough information about
these other dimensions to make good hypotheses about complexity and
extropy.
2. For me, there is no counciousness without life ? (Unless
we consider - and prove...- that counciousness is transtemporal...)
I think that consciousness is dependent on information storage, i.e.
*memory*. Without memory I don't think any localized concentration of
matter and energy, however complex, would be conscious. it also need a way
to differentaiate between itself and its environment.
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Tony Benjamin Csoka
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