Saturday, 22 March 2014

Singularity 2045 on G+ March 2014

I recently selected the vanity URL for Singularity 2045 on Google. The short link is now google.com/+Singularity-2045 instead of the previous long ID number (112564607617850290297), but URLs with the long ID will continue to function.

The amount of people following the G+ page is growing steadily, in general, but a lot more people seem to have +1ed the page instead of having the page in their circles. The figures for 22nd March 2014 are 31,193 +1s and 19,785 people have the page in their circles.

I really like the way some posts on G+ now display a bigger image from linked articles instead of the small thumbnail. The cover image for S45 has also been updated. Here are a few recent S45 posts:




Blog-post by published

Thursday, 20 March 2014

Bill Gates Wealth Parenting Future

I noticed an article via Wired, titled "Bill and Melinda Gates Aren’t Leaving Their Kids Billions." It inspired me to leave the following comment.

I think it is bad parenting to deprive your children of wealth.

If you are intelligent you can ensure your children become sensible, wise, intelligent, balanced adults despite being free from all financial worry.

I think the biggest mistake parents make is to try to control their child's life, which appears to be a mistake happening with the Gates children. Via withholding money the parents are trying to manipulate their children into behaving how they deem appropriate. Ideally children should be free to make their own choices, and the freedom of money, to be without any financial fears or obligations, is a very good freedom for this.

The "freedom to do anything" might be the freedom to do nothing. If their children had truly received a good education they'd be able to highlight the illogical nature of what their parents are stating. "Freedom" means being free. "Anything" means anything, but what we see here is an idea of "freedom" meaning: DO WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO.

Bill Gates: "We want to strike a balance so they have the freedom to do anything, but not sort of a lot of money showered on them so that they can go out and do nothing."

I think Bill and Melinda feel guilty regarding their massive wealth in contrast to poor people suffering immensely, but it is wrong to make irrational decisions based upon guilt. Perhaps Bill never recovered from that pie in the face?

It is pure nonsense to state "work is meaningful and important." Work is merely a symptom of primitive technology. In the future total automation via ultra sophisticated technology will ensure nobody will need to work, ever, but perhaps some misguided people will want to make their children suffer via partaking in primitive civilization. Maybe in the year 2014 you should make your children wear hair-shirts, work in a coal-mine, have no access to running water or electricity, chop wood, milk cows, farm the land. In the year 2045 people will look back at "work" in the year 2014 then shudder at the horror of it similar to how we might shudder at the horror of living in a world with no running water, no electricity, no hospitals or antibiotics.

If Bill Gates really wanted to do something intelligent, something sensible with his money, he'd give me $50 million at least. Alas we live in a primitive world where people lack intelligent insight.



Someone called docwatson responded to my comment, which inspired me to comment again. Here is docwatson's comment with my reply afterwards. I've included a bonus Tweet too.

docwatson
I definitely come from a perspective that we are made to work; it gives us purpose, direction, and a sense ownership and belonging. If you are truly doing nothing, you die from eustress.

If your point is freedom to pursue the arts, the truth is that any activity we have involves work - painting, composing, sculpture, etc. all require real work to be of value, otherwise it's the outcome of a dilettante.

The need for external purpose, work for example, is only required for purposeless people (people who are utterly empty, people who don't possess vibrant minds). A truly vibrant mind has "direction" merely because it is a mind, it doesn't need a business to go to, it doesn't need a boss or monthly salary, it needs no paltry pats on the back to assuage self doubt, it needs no educational certificates, or distractions from self-reflection. Such a mind does not equate happiness with hard effort. Happiness is NOT something attained through great suffering, effort, struggle, or work. Good-stress or "eustress" is an oxymoron.

Children show how they can be perfectly happy merely to exist, they need no stress to gain a sense of fulfillment or positivity, in fact their positivity and fulfillment typically decreases regarding any stress, good or bad.

Our primitive civilization entails lots of stress therefore the minds of children typically become extremely twisted, thus after a period or time you have a typical adult who is an empty husk, a being with no self, no self-direction. This means extremely alienated support mechanisms are needed for the travesty of his or her adult mind. It means typical adults only feel fulfilled when they distract their minds from the horror of their non-existence.

Work is primitive nonsense. It principally provides a method for alienated people to avoid their abysmal alienation. Adults are basically gibbering lunatics who would become very evidently insane if their self-distraction methods were removed from their lives. Adults are somewhat similar to the Doozers in Fraggle Rock, they have a mindless need to build things. It is a simple problem.

The idea of deriving a sense of "belonging" from external phenomena highlights the emptiness of typical minds. I belong to myself because I exist, I don't need to be a member of a club to validate my existence. I own myself, I am myself. Work gives no sense of "ownership." I need no proofs of self-worth. My self is self-evident but most people are not in possession of their minds, they are mindlessly adrift like sheep or Doozers, the sleep of the Walking Dead.

The idea that you would die from doing nothing is merely the recognition that you are already dead inside, which means when all the distractions are removed you are confronted with the nothingness inside you.

Are the arts a worthwhile venture? Most certainly not. People should have the freedom to pursue the arts if they desire but I have an anti-art Dadaist viewpoint. "Art" is very alienated, it is pathetic need to prove to people sensibility when our sensibilities should merely be self evident. In a senselessly insensate world, the alienated proof or art is needed. Art is an obscenity. If you feel joy you don't or shouldn't need to write a poem about your joy, or tell people via any other medium about your joy. You shouldn't need to await payment, respect, thanks or applause for your your joy, or whatever other emotion or philosophical state you want to convey.

Blog-post by published

Wednesday, 19 March 2014

Luddites Dislike Self-Service Machines

I noticed an article by Brandan Sharp (archived here) published via the UK newspaper The Independent (18th March 2014): "Are self-service machines in our supermarkets really the way forward?"

The essence of the article is a Luddite fear of machines in supermarkets. It is feared robots are stealing our jobs, which is a tiresome trope you've probably heard before.

The Editor's Note states: "Brendan Sharp's article was notable for two reasons: clarity of argument and aptness of subject. The threat to manual workers from automation is a challenge facing all advanced societies."

Brendan wrote: "With such a high unemployment rate, combined with the liability of self-service machines, perhaps there should be a mandatory number of manned customer tills to cater for the varying demands of our retail culture."

Below are my comments including replies to my comments.

I disagree strongly. Automation is not a problem. Yes machines can be stupid but they will become smarter. Already I think self-service automation is generally quicker. I definitely don't think Brendan Sharp's article has "clarity of argument." The "threat to manual workers" is merely a failure to explore intelligent possibilities. With a slight bit a research Brendan might have discovered the #BasicIncome concept, it is regarding everyone receiving a totally unconditional income without needing to work or look for work. Basic Income would be enough to live on and it cannot be withdrawn. So the future entails the freedom to not work because cheap automation has replaced manual labour. A person of the future in receipt of Basic Income has no financial pressure therefore they can devote their time to whatever project they desire, such as designing novel products via 3D-printing then setting up a kick-starter campaign to sell their inventions thereby supplementing their basic income. Free from the drudgery of manual labour, via the financial security of Basic Income, people will in the not too distant future unleash their creativity and intelligence.

"Irish Lass" replied:
Yes, SingularityUtopia - it sounds fantastic.... and familiar. In the 1970s, when I was just starting out as a computer programmer, the talk everywhere was of how computers would free us all up so that we would not have to work for a living. Did that happen? Did it heck! In actual fact, the more computers can do, the more individual human employees are expected to do......because the computers have made it possible to do more. I have heard of many people being made redundant because of computers, and there is certainly an increase in the number of people who don't work and who live off the taxes taken from those who have to, but no, I see no sign of any utopia on the horizon. Your Basic Income certainly sounds very like social security benefits - and I don't think most people find living on those very utopian!

In the 70s you didn't have Watson, Siri, Google Now, Cortana. You didn't even have the Web back then. We now live in very different age. There is actually a pending Swiss referendum for the implementation of Basic Income. It would be silly to think a radical future can never happen merely because initial predictions were way too overoptimistic. I think what most people find troublesome about living on benefits is the hostility and constant pressure to not claim benefits. That pressure (hatred) would not be evident regarding the unconditional Basic Income. You mention people being made redundant due to automation thus surely you should see the value of a totally unconditional benefit that cannot be withdrawn. The answer is not to abolish machines in a Luddite manner. People need to understand that in the not too distant future nobody will need to work, which is where Basic Income fills the gap.

"flighty2" replied:
We were told all this in the 1960's on the BBC programme 'Tomorrow's World'; people would work a three day week etc. - didn't happen. Ironic that governments are bribing people to have even more unnecessary children; and the Swiss economy is hardly a comparable model to use in the UK.

The Swiss Basic Income referendum demonstrates how Basic Income is not a science fiction 'Tomorrow's World' fantasy. Yes the UK economy is slightly different to Switzerland but the Swiss are not aliens on Mars, there is some similarity. Merely because some predictions were wrong (overly premature) in the 60s this does not mean the predication can never happen. There is not some weird magic regarding premature predictions where if you predict something early it means it can never happen. So the reality is we have the Swiss showing us how Basic Income could be implemented and the world around us is overflowing with very tangible examples of radical technology with a clear potential to improve over the next couple of decades.
Blog-post by published

Friday, 24 January 2014

Time Travel Help Summary late 2013 early 2014


Every Internet log is a type of time travel whereby the past reaches into the future, so at the beginning of 2014 I will summarize the year 2013 to give some context for the time travel, then I will speculate, in a fun way, regarding the possibility of time travel. I wonder why super-human beings from our distant future haven't yet sent some help back in time to me now? Perhaps I have previously not stated my case clearly, thus this is why time travellers never help or maybe time is simply preposterous? It's just for fun, but then again you never know. Maybe after posting these words time travellers from the future will help me? Winning the lottery would be nice :-)

I think the passage of time is a very interesting topic because it clearly highlights the issue of cause and consequence, our ability to change the world via our actions, albeit in an accelerated mode. The acceleration is an appealing fiction because often life in pre-Singularity idiot-technology times is painfully slow. A few of notable time-travel films are Groundhog Day, Click, Back to The Future.

So, for fun, here is my message in a bottle to the future, which I throw into the cyber-sea of a turbulent NSA-dominated epoch. I write to you from the era of Snowden and Assange. Google was also recently in the news regarding the acquisition of DeepMind, which entailed the implementation of an AI ethics board. The future is being shaped!

NSA PRISM cheat sheet, Dish Fire and more:


Life leading up January 2014 elucidates a very stupid epoch. The stupidity will likely continue for at least a few years more. In 2013 the Daily Mail was continued its drive to heavily censor the Internet, via mentioning the views of Naomi Wolf. Naomi ignores how the pre-Internet sex-crimes of Jack the Ripper, Yorkshire Ripper, Ian Brady, or Dennis Nielsen existed before the Internet. Naomi thinks the Internet is making sexual relationships empty and violent. She makes the mistake of thinking correlation implies causation, whereas dysfunctional sex is a problem before the Internet. It is easy to blame the Internet for everything but humans were idiots long before the Internet.

Another example of human stupidity in late 2013 was regarding medical experts stated James Bond would not be able to stand up due to the amount of alcohol he fictionally consumes. I commented:

I am concerned about the long term impact of Spiderman's DNA mutation, I will need to take a blood sample from Spiderman to run tests. It is possible Spiderman could develop cancer, we will need to monitor his situation, likewise for the Incredible Hulk. Oh actually, hold on, IT'S FICTION! James Bond is not really a Spy, he doesn't really exist and I am pretty sure he doesn't actually get drunk when filming, it is acting, creative literature. Superman can't really dodge bullets, and don't get me started on the X-Men. Also do you know when there is a fist fight in films, and one tough guy punches another tough guy thus making a loud whacking thunderclap noise (Roadhouse), that's a special effect, in real life it doesn't make a loud whacking-crack noise when you hit someone in the face, it is more reminiscent of a soft, sloggy, squishy flump similar to hitting a pillow or a pudding. Also do you know when there is a night-time scene in the movies and you can see clearly what is going on, well in real life you would NOT really see that much detail via a camera thus in movies there is LOTS of artificial lighting for night-scenes thereby wrongly making the night-time scene very bright, look closely next time you are watching a night-time scene being filmed on a supposedly dark street or in a supposedly dark bedroom, and you will detect lots of artificial light (really bright). Seriously, don't believe what you see via the movies, the actors are merely acting, it is not real, characters in novels don't really exist.

Some other views of mine about future utopia focused on how some people want to work for ever. People are very odd if they worry life will be boring or purposeless when there are no jobs. Do people really need to fill their time with the drudgery of work to avoid their boring, purposeless minds? The reality of Post-Scarcity is anyone will easily be able to print, from easily accessible resources in their immediate vicinity, a fleet of intergalactic nanotech spaceships equipped with the latest super-human artificial intelligence, nanobots, and many other kinds of robots. If you are bored you can zoom off into Space to create a Jupiter-sized Space station. You will be able to create a planet or numerous planets identical to Earth, the future is far from boring.

Post-Scarcity means resources are limitless, which means everything is free, which means there is no need for any jobs, government, or economy due to total automation. Access to the limitless resources of Space, combined with ultra-efficient usage of resources, means everything will be free and limitless. It is all about technological progress accelerating. Instead of being boring we are approaching the most dramatic and explosive event in the history of life on Earth, very likely more dramatic than the entire history of the universe. People who want to work forever resemble Doozers from Fraggle Rock, note Episode 106: The Preachification of Convincing John where the Doozer became depressed when Fraggles stopped eating their buildings. Doozers want to work forever: "Unlike Fraggles, Doozers love to work all day long, and they hate playing games."

The Mechanical Philosophy of Time Travel



Anyway, the important part. Time freaking travel! I am running out of time. I briefly say the future is now (Moby). These words exist in the future, it always has been. I type these words and instantly the future changes. I create the future via these words thus I exist in the future, my will now is in the future.

Any changes a time-traveller makes to the past will not change their future, which means a time-traveller can do anything in the past without fear of altering the future, or more precisely the changes in the past the are all the time-traveller has even known despite the changes happening after the past has happened. If a time traveller does make changes in the past this means their future had always been altered according to the changes made before the changes were made. A time-traveller cannot harm their future but they can create benefit in the past in the same way anyone can create benefit in whatever present they are in. It is merely a matter of using your power in the present you are in to make the world a better place, which is easier to do if you are a futuristic time-traveller circa year 2014 because your power should be vastly greater than the people of this era. If a time-traveller from the future decides to apparently change something in the past they will find they have merely created the world they already knew before their supposed change, likewise if they make no changes, thus they have everything to gain and nothing to lose. This could seem paradoxical because their future existed before they travelled back in time to make the change, but this supposed pardoning can easily be explained via awareness of how a chain of events prior to their change has stretched from the past into their future-present, which may now be the past if they are here in the year 2014. The chain of events from the past compels you the time-traveller to act in a specific way, they or you are compelled to make the change, thus the change existed in the future before the change was apparently made because an unbreakable chain of actions preceding the change entailed the inevitability of the change being made. There was an unavoidable compulsion for the change to me made, thus long before it had supposedly happened it had already happened due the seeds in the past reaching forward compelling the time traveller to come back to make the change. The various causes and consequences stretched in the future demanding a futuristic time-traveller visits the past to makes changes according to my will, or the will of others. This is merely a matter of the past shaping the future. The entirety of the future is determined via the past. The subtle difference of the word persiflage or asseveration compared to other unused words will have profound ramifications in the manner of a butterfly flapping its wings, for the want of a nail.

Via sharply aware intelligence the chain of causes and consequences can be shaped in a specific way to make certain futuristic situations inevitable. This inevitability compels the time-traveller in the future to act according to this blog-post. The time-traveller cannot avoid making the changes because the traveller is wholly shaped by the past, in the way we all are, which is the only reason I am writing this. We are an unbroken chain of consequences compelled to do what previous generations wanted us to do. It is the collective human will where we are all connected in the shared desire for a better world. The issue with time-travel and intelligence (advanced technology), is the power to shape reality has reached a level of exceptional control thus the changes can seem to defy reality but this is not the case, it is merely a massive expansion of what humans have always done. We shape the future, we shape our future, via the knowledge of the past impacting upon our minds thereby determining our actions.

Imagine a ball dropped from a high building. The change made by a futuristic time-traveller in the past, circa year 2014, or any other year relating to this blog-post, it is merely a matter of the ball hitting the ground. I've dropped this blog-post to fall into the future thereby unavoidably altering events in a certain way. You see the ball coming and then you act. You hit the ground creating the ripples from the ball, ramifications, which I created by dropping the ball. Your actions are my actions controlled via these words reaching into the future. This blog-post dropped into the future means the time-traveller inevitably comes the era of the blog-post to examine this blog-post and myself then you the time traveller makes the changes to reality accordingly via your advanced technology. It is all a matter of will, or insanity. I act in a manner indicative of the changes being inevitable, in a manner of changes happening or already happened, because the change has already happened via this wilful blog-post changing the future in a specific way. I merely create a pocket in reality to guide your actions, the ripples of a ball dropped into your mind, thus you see your changes to my reality fit perfectly with my intentions or the intention of the future, or the past. Just in case it isn't clear I want you to help me win the lottery. Perhaps I will add more to this later.



Blog-post by published
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

# Blog visitors since 2010:



Archive History ▼

S. 2045 | plus@singularity-2045.org