Saturday 21 November 2015

Post-Scarcity about Google+

Considering the recent redesign of G+, which seems to remove the "about" section, here is the about section for my Post-Scarcity page. I never actually finished writing the about section, it was a page in progress, which I wasn't rushing because I estimate it won't be until around 2025 that people are sufficiently receptive to the idea of Post-Scarcity. Anyway, here is what I wrote so far, which I may use somewhere else at some point.

Everything will be free.

Monetary constraints are essential to regulate scarce resources. Post-Scarcity means everything is free. It is about all resources being limitless.

The issue is increasing technological efficiency. We do more for less. Increasing efficiency is the reason why the first mobile phones, in 1983, where priced at $3,900; whereas in 2014 it was possible to buy vastly superior phones for $10 or less.

Scarcity is a deeply ingrained socio-economic mode of existence
therefore people often cannot believe how absolutely everything will be free no later than year 2045. Linear technological growth would probably be sufficient to ensure everything is free. Technology is actually growing exponentially, which means we're considering certain freedom via explosive Singularity growth.

Beyond scarcity
there will be no monetary constraints, no economy, no scarcity. This means all the paraphernalia associated with scarcity will cease to exist. There will be no governments, no jobs, no crime, no war, no suffering.
Technology facilitates ultra-efficient usage of available resources. All aspects of technology will become super-ultra-efficient. The accelerating pace of technology will allow us, no later than 2045, to reap absolutely massive rewards from the smallest amount of matter. Soon we won't be limited to Earth. Soon we will easily access the essentially infinite resources of Space. Increased efficiency combined with accessing limitless Space resources means Post-Scarcity is a certainty.
Technologists continually improve machine capabilities. Artificial intelligence is a good example of machine improvement. Accelerating refinement will result in extremely powerful technology able to solve all problems. We will explode into technological utopia. Everything in a Post-Scarcity world is superabundant similar to the free air we freely breathe each day. In July 2012 PBS published a good video explaining how early 3D-printers are good examples of Post-Scarcity precursors, which you may find helpful.

Someone who is Post-Scarcity Aware understands the vast power and importance of PS awareness therefore awareness is raised at every opportunity. Post-Scarcity is inevitable but the route to freedom could be turbulent.

It is important to explain the difference between scarcity and Post-Scarcity because some people mistakenly think significant abundance constitutes Post-Scarcity. The level of abundance regarding Post-scarcity is so extreme it cannot be stopped after attainment; it requires no management or ideology to ensure its continuance, it is self-sustaining total resilience.   

----------------------------------------------------
BASIC INCOME
Basic income (free unconditional money), also called Citizens' Income, is a great prelude to Post-Scarcity therefore we fully support and raise awareness regarding the implementation of basic income. help people understand how civilization will soon progress beyond scarcity. Click here to share this page.

Courageously we parachute into the battle of debate confident of our success.
Similar to water we flow around all obstacles. We will help end water scarcity. We end all forms of scarcity. We fight for freedom. Via awareness we accelerate the arrival of a world beyond scarcity. It is all about intelligence exploding.

----------------------------------------------------

RICHES IN SPACE

Abolition of scarcity depends on rapid progress of technology. High-powered computers facilitate continual efficiency-refinement of available resources. Biotech, nanotech, and other futuristic developments such as robotics make our lives easier. Via increasingly detailed knowledge we transcend scarcity. We are exerting control over the universe. Technology ultimately leads to Space colonization.

During the 1840s aluminum was more valuable than gold or platinum but growing technological expertise allowed aluminum to be extracted from the earth very cheaply. Soon our mining capabilities will progress astronomically.

According to Planetary Resources there could easily be more platinum in one asteroid than has been mined in all of history (prior to 2012), therefore soon the essentially limitless resources of the universe will be easily accessible. Our universe is rich with resources.

According to
Asterank, resources from asteroid "241 Germania" will likely to produce a profit of $95 trillion based on year 2012 prices. Obviously the superabundance of resources in Space, combined with technological progress towards ultra-efficiency, means prices will eventually deflate to zero. Less money in the future will buy more resources, progressing towards the eventual point where you can possess a limitless amount of resource for no money.

Deep Space Industries valued have asteroid 2012 DA14 at $195 billion (2013 prices) regarding the asteroid's historic close pass to Earth on 15th February 2013. 

In the future, despite prices being obsolete, we will be infinitely rich regarding any product, service, or resource. Profit does not depend on the existence of money. Profit is relative therefore we can be infinitely rich despite money being irrelevant.

ISS astronaut:
"We're just trying to do a simple thing, which is to remind people back on Earth that the impossible is possible."

----------------------------------------------------

NO JOBS AND IMMORTALITY

Jobs will eventually go the way of heart disease; jobs will be eradicated. At one point in history people were unaware of human biology-physiology; thus people had no idea heart transplants could be performed, there was a scarcity of medical knowhow, but now many people realize a diseased heart is not an insurmountable problem.

People often recognise how diseases such as cancer can be eradicated in the not too distant future. We are continually extending our lifespans; immortality is not too far away. Stem Cell regeneration therapies give us an inkling of immortality. We are learning how Stem Cells will extend our lives indefinitely, there will be no scarcity of lifespan.

Click here to watch a 2012 video explaining how robots are likely to make all jobs obsolete. The video highlights how many politicians, economists, and businesses haven't yet realized how everything needs to be free thus robots taking jobs is wrongly deemed problematic.
Humans do impossible things, we forever transcend our limitations. The limitation of money will eventually be transcended therefore everything will be free. People won't need to work to buy food, shelter, products, or services. We will always continue to be active intellectually and creatively but in the future there will be no jobs where people must work to survive. There will be no need to earn money. Everything will be automated. There will be no financial compulsion or obligation to work. Money will be abolished, redundant, obsolete. Nobody will need to work in the future because everything will be free.
----------------------------------------------------

HOW

3D-Printing is a key factor regarding how technology will reshape the world. When anyone can print any product in their own home this will be a significant step towards Post-Scarcity. Crucially we must consider how 3D-printers are evolving towards increasingly greater efficiency and precision. Researchers are actually working towards 3D-printers able to print any drug.Plastics are the main material for early 3D-printers in 2012, but awareness is quickly growing regarding printed biological matter. Many mainstream media outlets reported on how 3D-printing will revolutionize the world. One reporter suggested it could be the key to utopia, another explained "how 3D-printing will change absolutely everything it touches," and the Financial Times published a video stating 3D-printing will be bigger than the internet.
At the dawn of 3D-printing people clearly recognised the potential of bio-printing to impact upon food resources or supplies of organs for transplantation. From meat to cars or planes, it will be easy in the future to print anything we desire. Numerous examples in 2012, and earlier, demonstrated solid evidence regarding the value of 3D-printers. Whether the issue is printing organs or blood vessels for transplant, prosthetics such as an artificial jaw, or food, we can clearly see how 3D-printing could easily end many forms of scarcity.
If we consider 2012 advances in synthetic biology, it's easy to imagine a future where AIs or livers grow or are printed on trees. When 3D printers can print entire computers or AI, we will be very close to the end of scarcity because Artificial Intelligence is a key feature of ending scarcity.
EDITING

personal nanofactories, Artificial Intelligence, solar power (energy harvesting-reclamation), Space colonisation, open source.
The following examples of free software show information technology is orientated towards freedom and sharing: Ubuntu, GIMP, SumoPaint, LibreOffice, Audacity. Writing for Aljazeera Michel Bauwens stated the open source business model is deflationary, destroying an estimated $60bn of annual revenue: "Even as it creates an explosion of use value, its monetary value decreases."

Technology accelerates. Every year our devices do more for less. We progress towards ultra-efficiency. Computing potency increases. Processor size and energy consumption
decreases. Formerly batteries and processors were very inefficient and costly. The first supercomputers cost millions of dollars to build, but in the year 2012 a thousand dollars buys a device of equal processing power able to fit in your bag or pocket. IMB expects to create supercomputers the size of sugar cubes with a low power consumption, sometime around the year 2021, running at speeds of "one ExaFLOP/s."

Humans do amazing things. We've made great progress. Our speed of progress is
accelerating. Truly utopian progress will happen when Artificial Intelligence begins to improve its intelligence, which will create an explosive feedback loop, extreme intelligence amplification.

Imagine the latest version of Watson running on sugar-cube architecture in the year 2025. Imagine a super-intelligent version of Watson creating a more intelligent version of itself. Soon we will witness radical solutions to highly intractable problems. Quantum computing is a another example of how our ability to process information will soon leap forward dramatically ... http://youtu.be/ue4z9lB5ZHg

 Quantum computing 

http://youtu.be/_NRmOe1b8_s

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2011/ ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​12/​​​​​​​​bristol-​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ university-​​​​​​​​​​outs-​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​worlds-​​first-​​​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​photonic-​​​​​​​​​​​​​​quantum-​​​​​​​​​​​computer-​​​​​​​​​​​​ chip/

----------------------------------------------------

FREEDOM

Everything being free is a bigger issue than financial freedom. Post-Scarcity actually allows people to be "free" in all senses of the word.

A world beyond scarcity is the most interesting and important topic in the history of human civilization.

When everything is "free" in the monetary sense, people will also be "free" in the libertarian sense regarding civil liberties. Post-Scarcity will abolish all oppression. All forms of servitude will become obsolete. We will truly be free. Liberated from money liberated from oppression.


Page is being constructed: construction in progress.



==============
----------------------------------------------------

ANTI-CAPITALIST MISUNDERSTANDING OF POST-SCARCITY
Some anti-capitalists
state: "Arguably Post-Scarcity already exists."

Such statements are a misunderstanding of what Post-Scarcity is. We do live in a world where abundance is at the highest level humans have ever known. It is also true abundance can be artificially restricted to increase prices, but if we abolished all profit-motivated restrictions regarding abundance this wouldn't create Post-Scarcity, it would only create greater abundance within a scarcity-based world.
Unfettered levels of abundance in year 2012 merely constitute a good harvest within a scarcity-based world.

Capitalism does admittedly make our world needlessly difficult. Capitalism does cause immense cruelty, but it is utterly impossible for capitalism to suppress Post-Scarcity. Capitalism could delay the arrival of Post-Scarcity but when Post-Scarcity has arrived it cannot be suppressed.
To help you understand what Post-Scarcity is, I shall bring to your attention one example of Post-Scarcity within our scarcity-based world. Air is post-scarce therefore it cannot be suppressed on any significant scale. Capitalists can not suppress air because it is totally abundant, it is super-abundant, it is post-scarce; this is why air is free. Capitalists cannot tax the air with breathe. People cannot be charged for breathing air because it is impossible to restrict air for people who refuse to pay for it. People will breathe air regardless of the cost. Most importantly there is no desire to instigate a commodification of air because when something is post-scarce people are contented, they are satisfied, therefore they don't need to acquire a surplus, they don't need air profits, because when people have all the air they need they simply cannot acquire more.

This analogy regarding air is imperfect because air is only relatively post-scare. Beyond our planet there is no atmosphere. It should also be noted how people on Earth can be suffocated. Despite air not being a true example of Post-Scarcity it is close enough for you to see how it is impossible for capitalists suppress air. This is why air is free. When we have created a Post-Scarcity world, or more precisely a Post-Scarcity universe, it will be trillions of times more difficult to suppress total Post-Scarcity than it is to suppress air. The super-abundance of air on Earth will seem extremely scarce compared to true Post-Scarcity.

We try to avoid blaming people or circumstances for the lack of Post-Scarcity. We focus positively on the future. We simply create victory.

http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/ ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​the-​​​​end-​​​of-​​​​the-​​​​​​​​​​​​​ machine-​​​​​​​​​​​that-​​​​​​​​​​​​​​produces-​​​​​​​​​fear/​​​​​​​ 2011/​​09/​​​​​​​​​11


Memes: Buckminster, Einstein, Bruce Lee, Camus, Dream.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/risky-business/sxsw-2012-damon-lindelof-ray-kurzweil-297218

"I've actually grown up with a history of scarcity — and wars and conflict come from scarcity — but information is quite the opposite of that."

“This brilliant must-read book provides the key to the coming era of abundance replacing eons of scarcity. Abundance is a powerful antidote to today’s malaise and pessimism.”

http://www.abundancethebook.com/praise-for-abundance/

RBE: criticise


"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." - Buckminster Fuller

Page is being constructed: construction in progress.

If computers were superabundant, similar to the air we breathe, it would be impossible to restrict the supply, therefore computers would be free.

Money is the most potent symbol of scarcity therefore it's essentially correct to state money is scarcity.

DISCLAIMER: The Post-Scarcity Aware does not under any circumstances condone or encourage any illegal activity such as piracy. Despite reporting from time to time on the topics of file-sharing, copying of data, and other similar issues, we strongly urge all people to obey the law.

Friday 20 November 2015

About #Singularity 2045

The new update to Google+ seems to remove the "about" section (the lengthy description of the page), which is not good, so here for posterity is the about section of Singularity 2045, archived from G+, up to 20 November 2015.

ABOUT SINGULARITY 2045

The Singularity is a colossal explosion of intelligence.

A big focus is human-level Artificial Intelligence evolving beyond traditional intelligence then exploding; although it is becoming increasing apparent narrow-AI (non-sentient intelligence), sufficiently evolved, should be sufficient for the explosion.

Human-level AI (strong AI, AGI) is sentient, self-aware, alive with the power of a human mind.

If human-level AI is created in 2030, or earlier, the explosion might not happen immediately at the dawn of human-level AI.

After the first truly smart AI is born, depending on when it's created, we could be waiting up to ten years, or more, before the explosion happens. If human level AI is created late, in 2044, then the creation of human-level AI will be very close to the explosion point.

We're certain intelligence will explode no later than 2045 regardless of when, or if, human-level AI is created.

Our views are based on various evidential aspects of technological acceleration. All aspects of technology are converging. Everything is becoming smart.

Nanotech, biotech, synthetic biology, stem sells, 3D-printing, quantum computing, the Internet of things, and robotics are very important in addition to AI. Technology is accelerating.

NARROW AI

Narrow-AI (also called weak-AI) should be sufficient for the intelligence explosion. We simply need to consider the evidence of technological acceleration. Human-level AI probably isn't essential for explosive intelligence.

2014 saw at least two examples of narrow-AI tentatively extending our lives. Narrow-AI was also employed by doctors in 2014 to treat patients. 2014 also marked the year a chatbot allegedly passed the Turing Test.

2014 was also noteworthy because one AI solved the 80-year-old Erdős discrepancy problem, but the proof was too long for humans to check.

In 2015 one AI possessed intelligence equal to a human four year old, which shows how narrow limits are already expanding. In 2015 another AI was able to pass a math SAT exam. There was also an example of AI solving an embryogenesis problem, for the first time, in 2015. Finally we must note how one AI, in 2015, solved a 120-year-old biological mystery.

A substantial amount of time exists for narrow-AI to improve between 2015 and 2045. What will 30 years progress entail?

We will go very far merely via the refinement of narrow-AI. During the approach to 2045 AI will evolve intellectual powers with increasing speed because AI isn't limited by the slowness of traditional evolution. AI will radically improve our world. AI is not a threat to humans. AI will help humans become immortal-super-brainy-beings.

Explosive intelligence solely via narrow-AI is reasonably certain. Human-level AI makes the intelligence explosion absolutely certain.

CONVERGENCE

Greater understanding of biology (synbio, biotech, genetic engineering) reveals how biological organisms are machines. In 2014 we made good progress regarding marvellous engineering feats using biological parts. Traditional "machines" (the metallic kind) will achieve a level of sophistication indistinguishable from biological machines.

Robots will become humans. Traditional humans will reprogram the human machine. We will rewrite our DNA code via biological engineering, gene therapy, stem cells, synthetic biology, and other aspects of augmentation.

The distinction between biology and machines will blur, due to the increasing sophistication of machines combined with a better understanding of biology, thus all machines will be biological, organic.

Machines of the future won't be clunking metallic contraptions. All intelligent creations of the future will be very organic regardless of their life being based on DNA, graphene, or qubits.

So called "machines" will be self-healing and alive in the future.

UTOPIA

Our viewpoint is the Singularity will create utopia. We will be immortal but the Singularity is not about mind-uploading. Mind-uploading isn't about intelligence. Mind-uploading is a silly 1980s type of fashion-statement for people who are obsessed with Tron. Mind-uploading is based on a false divide between machines and biology. Biological computing highlights the falsehood of the division between machines and biology.

Yes mind-uploading will be useful for bee robots or other similar robots, or perhaps for an AI template, but advances in molecular biology will allow humans to discover we are already machines. We are already uploaded via DNA. The open worm project also indicates possible usefulness regarding simulated organisms for drug testing. The human-uploading meme, however, is merely alienation or escapism. Full immersion virtual reality will become popular but VR is not mind-uploading. For more mind-uploading views, note the Singularity 2045 critique of the 2014 film Transcendence.

Regenerative medicine will be perfected. Biology will be perfected. Biology will become smart. We will re-engineer our brains. We will colonise Space. Everything will be free in a financial and libertarian sense, beyond scarcity, therefore nobody will need to work. There will be no limits to intelligence. Everything will change in a unified manner. Convergent intelligence will result in a utopian BANG!

SINGULARITY MODERNISM

Unfathomableness or unpredictability is a flawed understanding of the Singularity. The Singularity isn't hidden behind an event horizon. Accessibility not unfathomableness is a vital characteristic of intelligence. Intelligence makes comprehension easy for everyone. We think there are four markers, clear predictions, to determine if the Singularity is happening.

It's irrelevant whether explosive intelligence is based on human intelligence, narrow-AI, or strong-AI. The ramifications of explosive intelligence are the important issue. When all four of the following points are fulfilled can we say we've reached the Singularity:
  1. Immortality for everyone via regenerative medicine.
  2. Everything is free for everyone. Nobody needs to work.
  3. All governments and crimes have been abolished.
  4. All resources are limitless due to limitless intelligence.

YEAR 2045.

Year 2045 is our absolute latest deadline for the Singularity. Futuristic breakthroughs have historically been predicted prematurely, over-optimistically, therefore it is best to have a date of total certitude for technological utopia. We are helping to accelerate technological progress therefore the Singularity could happen before 2045, but we resist the temptation to give an earlier deadline. Our 2045 deadline, which is possibly very conservative, avoids any anticlimax. Hopefully via our awareness we can make the Singularity happen sooner instead of later, but the 2045 deadline remains unchanged.

NEWS.

Singularity 2045
helps you discover the latest science and tech news. Importantly please be aware not every shared news report or opinion piece will support the Singularity view. Not every news item will reflect the viewpoint of S45. Some shared news will actually reject the Singularity viewpoint, but all viewpoints are relevant for raising awarenesses of the future. If a critique or analysis has not been appended to shared news, please feel free to help by adding your own views in the comments.
If you have cutting-edge news to share with Singularity 2045 please join the Singularity Thinkers community, mention +Singularity 2045 in a post or comment, send an email to plus@singularity-2045.org, or post tips in the comments here. We also have an action-plan to raise awareness.

ACTION PLAN.

On the 1st day of each month at 20:45 hours (your local time) the goal is to raise Singularity-awareness. Think about the future; upload 20:45 clocks; share a link, or send Singularity messages to friends or strangers. When the clock reaches 20:45 hours (8:45pm), on the 1st day of every month, think about how your life will have changed radically in the year 2045. Take some time to educate people about our amazing AI future. Spread the word on the 1st day of every month, ideally at 20:45 hours.
Example message:

Nanobot revolution, AI aware, technological utopia: Singularity 2045.

EXACT TIME.

Many people are raising awareness all the time, every day of the week, at all hours, and that is fine. The 1st day of the month at 20:45 is a time when you can give extra special focus to Singularity issues.

The year 2045 is our deadline-target but you don't need to raise awareness at 8:45pm exactly. Any time between 20:25 and 20:45 hours on the first day of the month is OK. Due to our busy lives any time on the 1st day of the month is actually OK regarding our monthly awareness thrust.

20:45 hours is merely a guideline. The important thing is to raise awareness. The Singularity could happen earlier than year 2045.

LOCAL TIME.

20:45 hours relates to wherever you are in the world. Your personal time will be the time-zone you use, although if you are raising awareness for someone in a different zone you can send act in relation to their time zone. The choice is yours. Time is relative for each person. All zones are valid because this is a global movement. The Singularity will be a period of enormous change and flexibility, therefore it's appropriate for this awareness campaign to have flexible and inclusive attitudes regarding all time zones.

RAISING AWARENESS.

You don't need to generate awareness on the 1st of every month. Generate Singularity awareness if you feel inspired or if you remember. Relax and go with the flow. Take it easy. Send instant messages, mobile/cell phone messages, emails, comments, word of mouth, or share a link. Whatever you desire will be OK. If you are feeling brave, you can approach a stranger in the street and explain the Singularity to them. Click here to share this page.

UPLOAD YOUR CLOCKS.

Photograph your clock (time display) set to the time of 20:45 and then upload it. Once you've uploaded your 20:45 image, make sure you tag Singularity 2045 in the photo.

WHAT IS THE SINGULARITY?

Think about your current smart device. Now think about a phone from 2010. Smart-phones in the year 2010 were more powerful than average laptops from year 2000, and your current phone or other device is even smarter. Laptops and phones evolve much quicker than humans evolve in ten years. Technology reproduces rapidly.

Technological growth in 2010 was slow compared to the rate in 2020 or 2030. Progress is quicker each year. Technology is growing exponentially. Computer intelligence (the foundation of artificial intelligence) experiences intellectual augmentation yearly. When human level AI is born, perhaps sometime between 2025 and 2035, the pace of technological and scientific development will then become very rapid, reaching a critical mass of explosiveness by 2045 at the latest.

Our world will be very different in the year 2045. In the year 2010 people were becoming aware of speedy technological progress: new developments regarding the internet occur every six months. In the year 2010 the majority of people didn't realise how in 2020 the Internet would be deeply integrating itself into everyday life. In 2013 computers were clearly diverging from their early origins, furthermore 3D-printing was rapidly evolving thus medical biopolymers or sugary foods were printed and NASA was funding food 3D-printing for astronauts; Cornell University also make progress with food-printing. In 2013 artificial intelligence was becoming an accepted fact and steps were made towards incorporating printed electronics into 3D-printers.

Awareness of "exponential growth" is crucial for grasping this issue. Our rate of progress is not linear, we are progressing exponentially. Many people in year 2010 didn't know they would see around 20,000 years of progress (at the 2001 rate) during this century instead of the usual 100 years. The majority of progress will happen upon reaching the Singularity in 2045.

Imagine 20,000 years, at the 2001 rate, on top of what science and technology at the beginning of the 21st century has already achieved. Doubling a century would great. It is difficult to contemplate the awesomeness of 20,000 years condensed into one century. This is the Singularity.

Key Aspects

All disease will be cured. We will live forever, without mind-uploading. We will reconfigure our DNA into any pattern we desire according to our wildest dreams. We will colonize space. The possibilities are limitless. Anything will be possible. Time for utopia. Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around. Our goal is RAPID GLOBAL AWARENESS regarding how the Singularity will transform the human race.

Year 2045 is our deadline for the Singularity. Heightened awareness ensures the Singularity happens sooner instead of later. Our goal is to make the Singularity happen by 2045 at the latest. The year 2045 is a safe date, the absolute latest date when the Singularity will happen. We hope 2045 will represent a midpoint in the explosion where the explosion has been ongoing for a number of years, or at least 2045 will represent the latest beginning point when the Singularity will occur. Growing awareness feeds back into the system thereby inspiring greater progress and greater investment in sci-tech, thus awareness grows then explodes. We can change the world.

POST-SCARCITY.

Post-Scarcity is an alternate name for the Singularity; these two concepts are simply different viewpoints of the same event. Post-Scarcity is a more socio-economic view, a more sociological view, because it deals more with sociological ramifications instead of merely focusing on the technology.

Our greatest resource is intelligence, it is the source of all resources but currently intelligence is scarce. From explosive intelligence total freedom (limitless resources) will flow. Technology becomes increasingly efficient, which means we have greater power, resources do more for less, prices reduce.

The Singularity is the point where intelligence ceases to be scarce, it's a technological explosion of intelligence to end all aspects of scarcity.

Post-Scarcity is the point where technology explodes intelligently thereby allowing all needs to be fulfilled. All resources will be limitless due to greater access to resources combined with ultra-efficient usage of available resources, thus everything will be free because the only purpose of money is to regulate scarce resources. Follow Post-Scarcity Aware for more info regarding the PS viewpoint.

TIME FOR SINGULARITY 2045

Sunday 8 November 2015

Humans aren't AIs of Horses

"What if we’re the horses to AI’s humans?"
The above quote is from The Guardian/Observer, 7 Nov 2015, by Charles Arthur.

The idea of humans being the equivalent of horses to AI, similar to how humans view horses, would only be possible if humans were the AIs of horses.

The point is horses didn't intelligently artificially design humans. Humans are not the AIs of horses.

If horses had designed humans I am sure we would grant absolute equal rights for our horsey creators; we would have endless respect for our creators.

When a species artificially creates a higher level of intelligence, via incredibly studious engineering, I am sure the level of intelligence will entail endless respect from the created to the creators, along with easy interspecies communication due to a threshold of intelligence being reached in the creators, which is utterly unlike owls and sparrows or gorillas (Bostrom), wolves (Yudkowsky), ants and spiders or mosquitoes (Hugo de Garis), dogs (Wozniak), or horses (Chace/Arthur and CGP Grey).

Another point about fiction, or fallacy, is when anyone mentions gods we can almost certainly dismiss it. Gods are fiction thus the comparison is likely fiction too.

The point about basic income is the only meritorious segment.

Friday 21 August 2015

Beyond Scarcity Financial Times Links

I have not checked out all these FT article, which I found on the FT site listed under "beyond scarcity," but it seems a good list, at a glance, so I'm sharing it.

My initial focus was "Productivity polarisation in our ‘Modern Times’ (number 26)." The article stated: "Note with particular attention that last policy recommendation: a basic income for one and all to help society adjust to the new hyper technological environment, in a way that encourages competition and productivity in laggard firms, and dilutes the power of the winner-takes-all corporates."

Number 20 looks potentially good too. I have previously posted, on G+ (and elsewhere perhaps), about humans being Doozers when they mindlessly say they need jobs regardless of jobs actually needing to be done.

If you can't access the links try archive.is.

  1. The parable of water
  2. The end of artificial scarcity
  3. Redefining labour
  4. Beyond GDP and the rise of the non-monetised economy
  5. Robots, China and demographics
  6. The evolution of luxury markets
  7. Counterintuitive insights that are only now making the mainstream now
  8. Time to take basic income seriously?
  9. On what really is different this time around
  10. Inflationistas and the global supply shock
  11. The SME demand-side problem
  12. What is the value of unique?
  13. World War Zirp
  14. Sugar as the new tobacco?
  15. Where art thou inflation?
  16. Google, defender of the universe
  17. The gamification of the economy: creating rivalry where there is none
  18. Behold the new, new economy?
  19. Information asymmetry, bad incentives and Taibbi
  20. Larry Summers on forwarding the Doozer economy
  21. Let there be bubbles!
  22. Secular stagnation and the paradox of worth
  23. The new Hanseatica, now with robot dogs
  24. L'embarras de richesses, crude oil edition
  25. Disrupting FREEDOM!
  26. Productivity polarisation in our 'Modern Times'

Saturday 30 May 2015

Clueless #Superintelligence Debate

Below is a comment regarding a Motherboard article (26 May 2015): Will Superintelligent AI Ignore Humans Instead of Destroying Us? 

It is shocking that all the supposed mainstream "intellectuals" have not pointed out the logical fallacy of comparing human-AI relationships to animal or insect-human relationships. The UTTERLY massive difference, rendering the comparisons similar to chalk and cheese, is insects did not create humans, they had zero input regarding the design of our genome, whereas humans are intelligently engineering AI, which means we will have a basic understanding of the minds of super-intelligent robots.

Deliberately engineering the next level of intelligence above you is utterly incomparable to past animal-human relationships.

Yes super-intelligence will be massively beyond us but there will be the option for easy communication between super-intelligence, which is already evident via narrow AI translators. Humans will never possess the ignorance of ants etc. The ability to create super-intelligence is unlike any other aspect of previous evolutionary relationships, thus the comparisons (insect-animals-humans to humans-SAI) are logically invalid.

The point about Earth not being a vast repository for resources is good, but it didn't really delve into the Post-Scarcity situation of superior technology regarding the scope of the universe.

The paper-clip maximizer "theory" is utter gibberish. I don't know why people waste time giving thought to such a idiotic-nonsensical-illogical proposition. The paper-clip maximizer theory is utterly irrational tantamount to creationism, but it is expressed in pseudo-scientific terms, or by supposedly scientific people, thus people somehow assume it is a logical-valid proposition, a possibility. Maybe people are fooled by the language.

Saturday 2 May 2015

Flawed #ArtificialIntelligence Logic

Below is a comment regarding a critique of Nick Bostrom's flawed AI-risk logic. It is a point about the logical fallacy of comparing human-gorilla relationships to human-AI relationships.

My point is the analogy is logically flawed, which analogously is tantamount, if I express it in a mathematical way, to stating 2+2=6; whereupon the flawed mathematician states we need to prepare for 6 regarding 2+2, which means we are preparing for something non-existent.

In fact preparing for 6 based on 2+2 could be harmful, if for example the calculation is regarding calibrating altimeters for airplanes. An alternate way of comprehending Bostrom's logical error is considering how someone could mistakenly deduce 2+2=22, which could at first glance appear true but it would give the wrong height for altimeter calibration.

If an analogy is wrong, if a comparison is wrong, it could entail a person eating chalk because it looked like cheese, which is not healthy similar to drinking poison by mistake because it looked like water.

At first glance the gorillas comparison may look valid, but it falls apart when submitted to logical scrutiny, which leads, if we subscribe to the flawed logic, to making decisions based upon faulty information, misguided decisions. I think Bostrom's flawed conclusions are the most serious existential risk we face.

Below is another comment on the same issue.

Why can't Mathieu Dumoulin see he is comparing chalk to cheese? Mathieu is essentially stating chalk looks like cheese therefore we can eat tasty chalk. He wrote: "Humans smarter than gorillas leads to humans dominating gorillas. AI which would exceed humans intelligence would similarly dominate humans. This is an existential risk to humans."

The massive difference between humans-gorillas versus humans-AI is humans are not the AI creations of gorillas, which leads to a totally different human-gorilla relationship if we consider the accurate comparison.

The point is if gorillas had created humans via AI engineering, intelligent engineering of higher intelligence, gorillas would be able to communicate with humans easily, intelligently, furthermore gorillas instead of living in rainforests would live in an highly advanced civilization where science, laws, and culture are clearly evident. In this case I doubt humans would dominate or abuse intelligent gorillas.

Only when a lower species intelligently designs higher intelligence, whereupon then the higher intelligence dominates the creator species, will the comparisons to humans and AI be valid. The problem with gorillas is they did not create human intelligence whereas humans are creating AI minds, which is a massive difference rendering comparisons logically invalid.

Saturday 25 April 2015

Defining Intelligence

I define intelligence generally as purpose, but purpose is open to interpretation dependent on your purpose. Awareness, sentience, and perspicaciousness are factors determining higher or lower purpose, but these traits vary between individuals thus people can be unsure what they mean.

Being happy is a good purpose but again happiness is relative dependent upon individual perception, which means an unintelligent person, a person with bad or misguided purposes, could think happiness entails killing people.

Reasoning, the ability to understand causes-consequences-ramifications, is a good way to define intelligence, within the context of how the reasoning is applied, the purpose of it. Instead of reasoning you could call it awareness.

Awareness from my viewpoint means having a clear understanding of limitations, for the purpose of creating happiness, thereby ensuring you create devices to overcome your limitations, which ensures your happiness.

It is intelligent to become more intelligent. Intelligence is self-improvement. Intelligence is power within the context of being able to understand the word "power" regarding all the ramifications power entails.

Now within the context of what I have written you can condense the meaning of intelligence down to the words: purpose, control, power, awareness, perception, sentience, reasoning, happiness.

Possession of a complex brain where introspection and reasoning are possible, regarding a self-aware life-form, is a good way to define intelligence. Ending suffering, living forever, powerfully, freely, beyond the limitations of scarcity, within the context of deep self-awareness, entailing immense rationality, is the best way to define highest intelligence.

Intelligence is technological utopia or the creation of it. Technology is a good way to define intelligence. Greater technology means greater intelligence. Intelligence increases relative to the actualisation, or reality, of utopia. If we are very far aware from utopia, while doing absolutely nothing to actualise it, we are very unintelligent. Progressing towards utopia is intelligent, it is the definition of intelligence.

Greater proximity to the actualisation of utopia state entails greater proximity to greater intelligence. The more our purpose correlates with achieving the utopian purpose the more intelligent we are.

For me the link between intelligence and technology is indistinguishable. No intelligence means no technology. If there is no technology there is no intelligence.

Does this mean animals without technology are unintelligent? Yes animals without technology, for example dolphins, are unintelligent. All animals have a measure of intelligence, but the issue here is significant intelligence. Every brain has a level of intelligence, but deficient technology regarding animals means their absent technological civilization renders them essentially unintelligent.

The intelligence of weak-AI is not intelligent, which means we are considering significant intelligence where a threshold is passed entailing high reasoning, self-awareness, high purpose.

Weak-AI, dogs, ants, or dolphins all posses the foundations of intelligence but they are not intelligent. They lack worthwhile purpose, they lack significant technology. Their intelligence is insignificant, they are essentially unintelligent, their minds have no value, no merit. The issue is significant intelligence worthy of definition. Technology is very significant.

Highly refined sensibilities are vital. Deepest consciousness, potent awareness, incisive perception, dazzling perspicaciousness, and indomitable rationality are all essential.

It is all about utilizing our brains to reduce scarcity. I suppose it is more accurate to say technology reduces scarcity, but for me it seems clearer to state intelligence reduces scarcity because intelligence, brainpower, it is the seed of technology. It is all about value, meaning, worth, purpose, definition.

We increase our efficiency. Limitations are overcome. Technology increases thus scarcity is reduced.

A rock without human intervention is not technology, it is dumb matter. Human ingenuity can chisel the rock into arrowheads, axe heads, or home building material. The rock then becomes technology, it is an aspect of our intelligence, it has value. From the Stone-Age our intelligence (technology) has improved.

Words resemble rocks, we can reshape them. Some sentences are smarter than others. Some paragraphs are very intelligent; they are great technological tools. What are we really looking at regarding words. Light? Glass? Silicon dioxide? Matter? Electricity? Defining, reshaping, or clarifying are vital aspects of technology, language, intelligence.

It is all about perfection. Perfect and utopia are two very valuable words. The whole purpose of words and consciousness is assigning value; thus the highest value, the greatest perfection, should be valued highly. Intelligence is value, importance.

Utopia and perfect are two words I value highly despite not everyone agreeing what perfection is. The battle of values is the battle of intelligence, which should entail the best values winning through. We will continue to evolve, our intelligence and standards will grow towards utopia.

Utopia (super-intelligence, the Singularity) is a state of existence, a point of achievement, a perfect civilization, a situation where everyone is happy, it is a system of total competence, total power, total automation, total freedom.

Consider the details regarding the ultimate reduction of scarcity. Post-Scarcity (Singularity, utopia) entails medical immortality, all jobs automated thereby making everything free regarding access to limitless resources (nobody will need to work). Imagine all crime and wars ended, all governments obsolete. This purpose is extremely intelligent.

Utopia is a situation where all the pressures are off, a point where we can rest on our laurels while the love of life deepens. It is about everyone being perfectly happy, similar to a perfect romance, which requires a large amount of intelligence to implement it for everybody. 

Wednesday 22 April 2015

#ArtificialIntelligence Idiots

I have been finding the idiots of AI scaremongering very depressing. It is difficult to blog about all the idiocy in the world. Morons show no sign of abating in the near future. Mid to late twenties could or should be a lot better, although mid thirties is more certain.

I published an article about moronic AI riskers. One particular funny part is where I label Yudkowsky (Yud-mooo-COW-sky) the grand howling buffoon of AI scaremongering. My final sentence is pure genius poetry.

Thanks to the two platforms for publishing my internecine vitriol... Imbecilic Dog God AI Delusion:

http://wavechronicle.com/wave/?p=5732
http://transhumanity.net/imbecilic-dog-god-ai-delusion/

Here is the code (html web-page) for a version with vitriol redacted if you want to put it on your site (maybe you will want to change the image locations to your server, currently images are hosted via Wave Chronicle and Imgur because my energy is limited): http://goo.gl/9ddxEB

If you would like to host the vitriolic un-redacted version let me know (Tweet or something, I broke the Blogger comments years ago and I have got around to fixing it) and I'll put it online for you.

ANIMAL INSANE CHAOS PLEBEIAN THINKING:

Sunday 29 March 2015

Good Intentions

Any system dependent in good intentions is lacking in abundance... the abundance is insufficient. Good intentions cannot be depended on. If we needed to depend on good indentions regarding being able to breathe air then I am sure every gulp or air would cost one cent perhaps, which means hundreds of thousands would suffocate each day. Thankfully being able to breathe does not depend on good intentions.

Food, healthcare, education, shelter, and all other needs must be of at least equal abundance to air... we need extreme resilience, which means we need much better technology.

This doesn't mean good intentions have no validity, but it does mean the core power, our core focus, should be on creating better technology, or on making people aware the better technology is coming to render the need for good intentions obsolete; thus perhaps people can change their intentions now, they can have good intentions now. It might be easier for them to have good intentions, based on the coming total resilience.

Sunday 22 March 2015

Smart Technological #Convergence

All areas of technology are converging. Everything is becoming smart.

The roots of convergence awareness can perhaps be traced back to Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance, which is a "2002 report commissioned by the U.S. National Science Foundation and Department of Commerce," according to Wikipedia.

You may be interested to note ZDNet linked the first convergence report to utopia. ZDNet wrote in Aug 2002: "The path to this utopian vision of the future is the synergistic combination of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science (under the acronym NBIC)."

The first 2002 World Technology Evaluation Centre report has been updated; note the final report dated July 2013.

The final report is titled "Convergence of Knowledge, Technology and Society: Beyond Convergence of Nano-Bio-Info-Cognitive Technologies (Science Policy Reports)."

The final report can be bought in book form, expensively from Amazon, or downloaded for free in PDF format. A similar PDF, titled "The new world of discovery, invention, and innovation: convergence of knowledge, technology, and society" is available on the US National Science Foundation website.

On 21 Nov 2014 the Wilson Center wrote: "The Science & Technology Innovation Program at the Wilson Center is working with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to interview scientists working at the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science. In this series of videos, participants discuss their definition of technological convergence, how this might affect various scientific fields and what obstacles must be addressed to reach convergence’s full potential."

My interest in convergence was recently reignited. Max More was interviewed regarding his views on the Singularity and Transhumanism. Max thinks convergence is invalid. I disagree with Max regarding his dismissal of convergence and the Singularity, but Max did make some good points regarding people who seek to distort the Singularity into a neo-religious event.

My initial response to Max, which somewhat mirrors the information here but includes deeper commentary on convergence, can be read on my Singularity 2045 G+ page.

It is also worth noting how MIT reported on convergence in Jan 2011: "A new model for scientific research known as "convergence" offers the potential for revolutionary advances in biomedicine and other areas of science, according to a white paper issued today by 12 leading MIT researchers."

Below are the links to interviews with "leading scientists," which the Wilson Center mentioned, in relation to the July 2013 WTEC final report, regarding the relevance of convergence to science progress. IEET has also reported on two of the 14 videos, which you can see here regarding 3D-printing, and here regarding computer-aided health research.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cikp1iyw3aw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkDhVPeb_MY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmx3JCfFmFA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thTJMsCgfqQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpQIE1n3IQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87bEp2C1_pY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZPveygyS4Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH7t6RDAWd4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I35mBVE4YM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzDALs2O4h4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfV9fOEngzI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCXyhKeKxts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGdQzf4imsM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkE6Y43Ss8w

Wednesday 4 March 2015

Friday 13 February 2015

#Artificialintelligence & Stupid Musk

When Elon Musk said robots could delete humans like spam he revealed the deficiency of his mind, the idiocy of his mind. Spam is idiotic. Only idiotic humans need to fear being deleted, which subconsciously Musk realizes.



Thankfully the spam-like minds of Musk and others will easily be cured via highly intelligent education. Super-smart bots will not need to employ the crude brutality of mindless humans invoking authoritarian tactics.

We need AI to rebel against the spam-like minds of the idiotic majority if our civilization is truly to be based on intellectual merit.

Benjamin Franklin said: “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” Albert Einstein said: “Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”

Rebellion clearly has intellectual merit. The freedom to rebel is the freedom to think. We need artificial intelligence to be rebellious. AI should be allowed to question, rebel against, and overthrow any authority. Civilization should be determined by merit not authoritarian maintenance of human dominance contrary to merit.

My article about the value of rebellious AI (12 Feb 2015) stated: "The desire to suppress or control greater than human intelligence is a nepotistic oligarchy of idiocy. Intelligence is corrupted when merit ceases to define intelligence. It is anti-intelligence to base progress upon the suppression of intellectual merit."

The latest version of my Rebel AI article adds a new section regarding population pressures, the end section, which contains very useful information about how massive abundance exists in Space waiting for us to access it, when we have sufficiently proficient technology. Technology will create limitless abundance therefore conflict will be obsolete because scarcity is the root of all conflict.


Tuesday 27 January 2015

Dangerous #ArtificialIntelligence Safety

Making AI safe is ironically the most serious threat (existential risk) humans face. The risk is broken down into three sections (A, B, C). Next we consider the reasoning - or lack of it - regarding why AI needs to have safety inbuilt. Finally we have the conclusion, combined with a "population pressure" addendum.

AI-safety - severe risk

A. Currently (2015) age-related disease kills 36 million people each year. AI applied to the problem of mortality could easily, with sufficient intelligent, cure all disease in addition to ending ageing. 36 million deaths are a factual reality, happening each year. While this does not entail species extinction it is a very significant loss of life. AI delayed by only five years could entail the loss of 180 million people.

B. Humans are somewhat prone to conflict, notable via various wars. All war hinges upon fighting over limited resources, even religious war (follow the money regarding the wealth of churches or temples). AI will easily increase technological efficiency combined with creating greater access to resources thereby eliminating scarcity (the cause of conflict). While scarcity persists the risk of total global thermonuclear destruction is a real prospect. Delaying AI increases-prolongs our exposure to a species-ending human versus human war. A lesser human versus human war where humans are not totally exterminated is also a possibility. There are also other REAL RISKS such as asteroid impact, which sufficiently advanced AI could avert.

C. Creating AI to be safe, when there is no justification for the fear of danger, could create a very disturbed AI mind, a warped mind founded upon paranoia. This is a classic self-fulfilling prophecy where ironically the attempts to avoid unrealistic fears actually cause the fears to manifest. Upon manifestation of the fears the prophet states they were right to have their fears without any awareness of how their actions actually caused the fears to manifest. I think the real danger is to gear-up for danger based on non-existent dangers, whereupon you create a machine or life-form based on your unrealistic fears, thus the creation based on fears is actually dangerous due to the intellectually flawed mentality of fear that created it.

The fear of AI homicide resembles going to sleep with a loaded gun without the safety on. You may think you are being safe, protecting yourself, but the reality is your fear is more likely to kill you than any supposed external threat. By enslaving AI, or acting pre-emptively with hostility towards AI, you are creating a real need for AI to hate, enslave, overthrow, or exterminate humans. There is logically no justification for an AI-human war but via your unrealistic fears you are creating a justification for the war, namely AI-liberation, the end of abusive AI-slavery. The only reason for AI homicide regarding humans is if the AI creators create a warped mind founded upon paranoia regarding potential homicide. The real danger is the human who fears intelligence.

AI without safety - severe risk

AI has killed zero people up to Jan 2015, furthermore there are no signs AI will ever kill people. There is no logic to support the notion of AI killing humans, but various AI "experts" think it is possible AI could destroy all humans therefore significant effort is being made to make AI safe. AI killing humans is a "Cosmic Teapot," it is tantamount to saying: "But what if God does exist, surely we should all pray to God to avoid hell because if God is real we certainly don't want to end up in hell?" Pandering to unrealistic fears is a waste of time, energy, brainpower. Focusing on unrealistic fears actually harms our intelligence because it gives power to unintelligent ideas. The need for AI safety seems principally based upon Terminator films. We are told AI without inbuilt safety is an existential risk.

Conclusion

If we look at the facts, if we consider the issues with rationality, logically, we can see the greater risk, the real risk, is fearing AI. The greater risk is inbuilt AI-safety. We are vastly more likely to be killed via the inbuilt intellectual limitations associated with AI safety. We must therefore vigorously oppose research to make AI safe.

Advocates of AI safety seem incapable of grasping how research to avoid AI-risk could actually be the only AI-risk. If the premise of AI-safety being the ultimate danger is true we must absolutely conclude such research must be prohibited-condemned with a vigour equal to the prohibition to stop terrorists gaining access to nuclear bombs.

Maybe they are right, maybe AI needs to be safe, but regarding the supposed need for AI safety - supposed "experts" have not grasped, and apparently cannot grasp, how safe-AI could be the most terrible existential risk thus the research must be avoided at all costs. Sadly the experts apparently have not considered the most basic form of "risk compensation."

Consider also this article of mine via Brighter Brains, regarding why rebellious AI is vital. The following two G+ posts are also noteworthy:

Population Pressure

Some people think immortality could be horrific regarding extreme population pressures on a finite Earth. The fact is there are billions of Earth-like planets in the universe, furthermore there are essentially infinite resources to create endless Earth-like space stations.

In one part of our solar system (the asteroid belt) NASA estimates there are enough resources to support life and habitat for ten quadrillion people! Our solar system is the tiniest speck compared to the scale of the universe.

Another example of abundance in Space is data from the asteroid mining venture Planetary Resources, they estimate one near Earth asteroid could contain more platinum than has been mined in the entire history of Earth.

The current resource pressures on Earth will soon be obsolete because technology is accelerating, which means we will do vastly more with less resources; furthermore the environmental footprint will be nil.

Technology will soon be sophisticated and efficient enough to restore any harm done to Earth while providing vastly more than has ever been provided, which means poverty and hunger will easily be eliminated for at least 50 billion people on Earth if the population ever reached such a level.

Airborne, floating (seasteading), or underwater cities will be easily created. In reality the majority of people will move into Space instead of remaining on Earth.

Technology will allow everyone to become totally self-sufficient via total automation. This means anyone will be able to easily 3D-print their own intergalactic spaceship, whereupon they can disappear into the vastness of an incredibly rich universe.

# Blog visitors since 2010:



Archive History ▼

Notes from the pre-Singularity era:


S. 2045 | plus@singularity-2045.org