singleton and memetics

From: christophe delriviere (darkmichet@bigfoot.com)
Date: Tue Nov 17 1998 - 15:07:20 MST


I hope i will not make you tired of my english and my little
considerations ;)

I've to confess that the "singleton hypothesis" process is running as a
background task in my mind these last days.

I'm sure there is several peoples here that would like to become one (or
part of ;)... )

so i've just a deep question in my mind now, would like to hear your
comments or suggestions.

browsing the net to find some interesting memetics publication at
http://www.lycaeum.org/%7Esputnik/Memetics/
i've find that quote of "What Is Man?" by Mark Twain
available at
http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext93/wman10.txt

> Clemens, Samuel "What Is Man?": "Personally you did not create even the smallest microscopic fragment
> of the materials out of which your opinion is made; and personally you cannot claim even the slender merit of
> putting the borrowed materials together. That was done automatically --by your mental machinery, in strict
> accordance with the law of that machinery's construction. And you not only did not make that machinery
> yourself, but you have not even any command over it."
>

i doesn't have read his book, but the guy seem to pretty well express my
way of thinking at this moment.

In a way, we are little singletons, as our brains are constructed like a
borganisation of a multitude of different agents and parts. But as
little genetically engineered singletons reproducing themselves in an
exponential way, we have a lot of partners to listen or to exchange
ideas, memes,...

If a singleton is truly alone, i think he will not be able to have his
intelligence shaped by an external intellectual environment, he will be
some kind of deep autist. So probably it's difficult to generate a sane
single singleton, one who take all the resources available in a somewhat
closed system. (i'm not talking about a Omega Point theory here).

If we try, the singleton will be probably a little bugged (or not
totally a true powerful conscience, at least intelligently shaped to use
his available agents and parts) and then this singleton is somewhat
reduced to the community of the singletons of a lesser order composing
him.

So, if we want, for example, to generate an artificial intelligence able
to really communicate with human minds, the only efficient way i can
think of is to generate an ecology of many artificial intelligences,
evolving gradually, communicating with each others and the external
environment (human minds and cultures) and with selections criterias
like those of genetic algorithms.

So, in a post human era, where we can imagine the total available
(matter+energy) in the solar system is used and where the global
intelligence can't move too much from his place to go to find a lot more
of (matter+energy), probably the singleton as a whole identity will be a
little insane.

would you want to become insane ?

any comments ?

the singleton thus will probably have to send Von Neumann probes to be
able to have new friends to talk to if he want to optimize himself or if
he's just a little bored... the probes will generate singletons in other
solar system... etc...

delriviere
christophe



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