From: Paul Hughes (planetp@aci.net)
Date: Mon Dec 07 1998 - 16:07:20 MST
Ok, Eleizer you got me. After some deep contemplation, I finally
have a tack on all this that has eliminated any confusion I had
in reconciling my understanding of a singularity vs. yours; and
also addresses the messy issue of evolutionary arbitrariness. I
think you and I are actually in agreement, but are operating on
slightly different conceptions of what self-awareness and free
will are.
One can argue about the existence of free will and self-awareness
until the Singularity is ancient history. As you say, short of a
catastrophe, the singularity is coming whether we 'wish' it to or
not, but this brings up an interesting notion. Regardless of
whether free will exists or not, relative to our own
self-awareness, many would argue that their are greater and
lesser degrees of self-direction. I think Timothy Leary's 8
Circuit Model of Contelligence is very appropriate here (for
details see http://www.deoxy.org/8circuit.htm).
Like most primitive life-forms, one can act on ones evolutionary
pre-programmed biosurvival circuits for food and shelter (Circuit
1). The emotional-terretorial circuitry (circuit 2) allows us to
transcend these biosurvival circuits for short periods of time to
act out on various emotional urges - such as caring for someone
else even though our stomach is aching for food, or our body's
cry out for sleep. Going another step further, we can transcend
our emotional urges by thinking rationally (circuit 3) about more
sane alternatives. When we call someone 'irrational', what we
are really saying is they are acting like robots dominated by
earlier emotional (neurotic) programming.
Going further still, we gasp and awe at tremendously creative
individuals such as Mozart or Beethoven, who managed to carry us
to non-linear sensory depths of beauty (circuit 5) that our
rational-linear brains couldn't (I'm using rational in the more
limited sense of linear "left-brained" styles of thinking). When
asked how they came up with such beautiful music, they were often
quoted as saying "I didn't compose it, so much as it was composed
through me". The same can be said of many scientific
breakthroughs. Many scientists said such discoveries reveled
themselves to them in a moment of 'insight' (circuit 6+).
Imprecise terms, but nonetheless hinting at modes of intelligence
beyond the merely rational-linear.
Timothy Leary came up with four new circuits of intelligence
beyond the terrestrial evolved emotional-rational-social.
Circuits whose primary process is a feedback loop of
re-programming ones programming. For examply, using genetic
engineering as a way of increasing our intelligence can be seen
as re-programming our genetic evolutionary baggage for increased
performance - what Tim Leary called Circuit 7.
The point I'm trying to make is, I highly suspect that the
Singularity will encompass our selves and our knowledge, because
not doing so would an irrational waste of collective experiences
that might prove useful in the future. Not wanting to argue
about the hard problem of consciousness, I'm assuming that
consciousness in some form or another will continue. If the
Singularity has consciousness and also has my entire collective
memories, then it has me in there for all practical purposes.
I'm still alive and aware!
**The question then becomes, do I still have free will or am I
somehow a slave to the machine? I think in the end this question
is meaningless. I could ask that question now. Am I free or am
I a slave to arbitrary evolutionary genetic imperatives?
Speaking subjectively, my "free will" always seems to prefer
operating on higher circuits over lower ones. I would rather act
more rationally than emotionally and have a greater tap into
genius-like-insight over pure logical methods. The Singularity
portends that such a process will occur. Since the Singularity
is operating at a tremendously higher level than my current self,
such a Singularity 'controlling" me would be indistinguishable
from me operating on higher circuits of genius-like insight.
Whether I am really free or not still remains unanswered, but
I'll certainly be operating in processes increasingly free of
genetic evolutionary baggage - to my self awareness it will seem
infinitely more free than I do now.
Paul Hughes
planetp@aci.net
http://www.aci.net/planetp
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