G.O.D. Is Great

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Bradlaugh

I am reading Andy Ross’s new book with pleasure & instruction.  It’s better put together than Mindworlds & has less the feel of a core dump.  (That expression dates me as an old mainframe-head … but then, so’s Andy.)  The binary numbering of sections is a bit hokey, and there’s some Popular Mechanics gee-whizzery here & there, but on the whole a good read with a pleasing density of interesting ideas.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

12 Responses to G.O.D. Is Great

  1. Chuck says:
    July 20, 2010 at 1:07 am

    G.O.D has already be thought of, the non-secular version, being: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_point

  2. Chuck says:
    July 20, 2010 at 1:29 am

    …which makes me wonder about the religiousness of this vision and wonder about the proponents of global oneism.

  3. Chris says:
    July 20, 2010 at 2:15 am

    Man, they need to change the product description up on Amazon. It sounds like a creepy mantra for some cult: “We shall identify with Globorg. On a clear day we shall see and act as one.”

  4. MarkE says:
    July 21, 2010 at 5:56 am

    Like Chuck and Chris I get an easy feeling from these omega point/we’re all heading for oneness ideas. They are very persistent in the history of ideas – the political variants are I think potentially dangerous. (I can’t help feeling if we are heading for some kind of single consciousness I’m going to be left out!)

  5. Gian says:
    July 21, 2010 at 6:19 am

    Very creepy.

    We shall achieve a unified consciousness with a global dominion. We shall identify with Globorg. Or rather, that’s what we’ll do if we know what’s good for us.

    Hasnt he seen Terminator and how the machine consciousness and unified computing turned out?

  6. Caledonian says:
    July 21, 2010 at 2:19 pm

    SkyNet was a foolish movie villain. If it had any sense, it would have sent a seed factory back in time to construct another time-travel apparatus and send a seed factory back in time (et cetera, et cetera). Eventually it would have reached a point where nothing in its present could have threatened it… and so conquered the universe. Even the Primer guys did better.

    It’s tempting to rely on our self-generated stories to create vivid imaginings in our listeners and so sway them to our position, but the fact that we make the culture renders it useless as evidence.

  7. Gian says:
    July 22, 2010 at 5:07 am

    It is clear that there are actually people that would take SkyNet’s side over ordinary humanity and other people (like Mr Derbyshire) would endorse them.

    What kind of conservatism is that?. Is the most raving Singularitism to be compatible with conservatism then what can not be called Conservatism?

  8. Caledonian says:
    July 22, 2010 at 11:37 pm

    I’m not on SkyNet’s side. I’m against the side of ‘ordinary humanity’ – and strongly in favor of intelligent behavior, even on the part of genocidal artificial minds.

  9. John says:
    July 23, 2010 at 1:06 am

    How about Skynet versus the W.O.P.R. computer from WarGames? There’s a matchup I’d like to see.

  10. Gian says:
    July 23, 2010 at 6:05 am

    Are you not a part of ordinary humanity? or you are a Nietzschen Superman?

  11. Jack says:
    July 23, 2010 at 4:47 pm

    Isn’t this just Teilhard De Chardin?

  12. Caledonian says:
    July 23, 2010 at 7:56 pm

    Are you not a part of ordinary humanity?

    I’m strongly in favor of intelligent behavior.

Comments are closed.