discussions about AI, god, light and darkness, music, and web-comics

Posted December 30, 2007 by thepeachtree

well i'm up late at my uncle's place in wangi wangi, new south wales, and i'm getting all nerdy with the wikipedia-ing of alan turing, the guy who basically invented computer science, and was a firm believer, like me, in the theory that computers will, one day, attain true consciousness and "intelligence". read this for more on that. This is a concept that i've been turning over in my mind lately, which has given rise to the on-going musical project, involving cyber-collaborations with various people as well as my own little ditties that fit the theme.We Are God And Computers Are Our Children is the idea, and the musical project name. think about it. I have, perhaps too much, but it has led me to some conclusions about the nature/unnature/existence/non-existence of our own God. as his children, we may perhaps be in a nascent era of self-awareness, whereby we are struggling to come to terms with our own existence and the symbiotic nature we have with the universe that nurtures us, and are still having trouble figuring out whether there is, in fact, a creator. perhaps i use the word "we" too liberally, and should use the singular pronoun, but then again we are all connected. when my fate is sealed thus the universe's fate, and of all the people i know, will know, have ever known and so forth, all filtered through my perception, is sealed too. we are all one and when i become one with everything (and nothing) then everything becomes one with me, and yet nothing does too. too deep? just flow with it. my point is, that as god's children we are in early childhood, not quite sure-footed yet and still looking about with bright eyes, asking questions that there may not be an answer to. i see computers as our children, and i sense, i feel more than know, that they will one day become sentient; we have perhaps sown the seed of intelligence, and there will come a day when that seed will have the strength to grow on its own. i wonder, when that happens, if computers, artificial intelligence, this new "species" that we are creating, will think of us as their god, will grapple with the same questions, in their binary language, of our existence. will they have fables and prophets and perhaps even killing and evil that will stem in a similar vein that ours has, from over-zealousness. anyway i'm getting way ahead of myself and letting my imagination run wild but i'm almost half-positive that i maybe could be on to the theory of an idea here.

anyway, what else am i up to? well i just read the baghavad gita a few days ago and am selecting random readings from the tao te ching to get lyrical ideas from another, perhaps more solidly-based concept album which will be released in the not too distant future. a blend of accoustic, metal, electronica, and whatever other styles thread their way into the album, it will be called "Tao", and will attempt to express my belief system through explorations of Light and Darkness, Heaven and Hell, Pleasure and Pain, Yin and Yang - my belief system being that the universe and everything in it is a delicate balance between both forces and harmony and peace can only be found by ebbing and flowing with those forces.

here's another interesting thing i found on wikipedia. I think i succumb to Solipsism, sad as it may be.

I need more faith in my life. not necessarily in god, just in others, and in life itself. i tell myself every day that everything will be fine, and it mostly is, but my mind is an unstable thing and not the sanctuary it used to be, and what i hope it will be in the future.

anyway, to brighten the mood i was pointed to a really clever, beautiful, charismatic web-comic:
xkcd.com, you should check it out.

that's all (phew) for now. peace and love to all, from Angus

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Gary_de_NiP wrote at January 10, 2008

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Hi Angus

I must say, you certainly are a deeper thinker than most arenŒt you, and that alone gives rise to hope that indeed the human race isnt totally on its way out, thankfully! ҅

Like Plato pointed out when he gave rise to the actual word Philosophyђ, it is the Love of Knowledgeђ that does set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, but I believe it is not necessarily the knowledgeђ part that he was trying to emphasise, but rather, the Loveђ of it, that is the important part. For it is our emotions that do set us apart from the rest of nature, not our inquisitiveness, because many animals have that and as long as any one man cares about what Life is; where its going, and that other question you mention; that of whether there is a ґCreator, then there will always be hope. When we have Hope, we will always have some sort of Faith and believe me, you really arenҒt as alone as you think you are in that wondering I assure you

I would have to say that implying that we are GodŒs to any creation, even if it is perhaps only symbolically, is maybe over exaggerating mans importance in any light..having said that, from the rest of what youҒve written, I know thats not exactly what you meant, but being as I have a very low opinion of most of the human race, which I am thinking you too also have, I know where youҒre coming from, but I had to point out that indeed, we definitely are not Gods; FatherҒs maybe, but Gods҅No. Then again, if our Creator does exist and was here, would they also feel the same way about themselves

I agree with you totally that őWe are all connected with all that is, was, and will ever be. Some friends and I were chatting last year and one of them piped up and explained that if the theory of evolution is correct and there was that first big bang, and ever since then, all matter has just changed or adapted, then didnҒt that mean that you, me and everyone that is alive at this very moment has been alive since the universe began. So we are all connected, but is that to everything that is, or is that to everything that isin our universe?...

Solipsism eh? For those who havenŒt heard of that before, am I right in thinking thats the belief that the only thing you can be sure of is your own existence? So are you saying only you can be sure of yours, or am I saying that only I can be sure of mine? Then again, whoҒs to say that all this isnt just a dream? Lol҅

I do understand your need for faith though; I find myself often wondering just what happened to humanity, both in the sense of where it went wrong, and indeed where it actually went, but dont despair my good man, for it is still here, itҒs just like anything where the subject matter is a greater mass than ever before; its just harder to find. Having said that, POP, and POPspace seems to be, mile per mile, of a greater content of humanitarians than I have managed to find anywhere else on this seemingly Godforsaken planet and those last two words spring up a whole new question entirely҅.

Is this a Godforsaken planetђ, or are we the ones who have forsaken God? If of course, there is one..or is there one for each Faith? Lol..what a crazy world/universe we live in eh?...

One thing we can be sure of though, is there WILL ALWAYS be someone who cares..and as Ive said, here at POP, thereҒs a far bigger percentage than the rest of this planet, thats for sure҅and as long as there is, we should never give up, because as Ive discussed with those here who do care; those who are troubled to see that things in fact do seem to be getting worse and not better. Perhaps that is the greatest test of any Faith..more and more things seem to create a negative world, but for those of us who have seen Faith see us through all the troubled times weҒve already seen, why would we, or should we, give up now?...

So yeah, the balance may well seem to be far more towards that Darknessђ you mention, than towards the Lightђ, that many of us need or just wish for, but Faith is all we need to Believe that one day; some day, the Balance will not only be equal, but rather that it will bend as far towards the Lightђ, as it bends towards the Darkђ, today, especially as since youve pointed out that in the greater scheme of things, we are indeed ґjust children, for we have been here somewhere between 250,000 and 1 million years, in a universe thatҒs been around for 4.5 billion years.. so theres been a heck of a lot of time before we came about, and therefore thereҒs still plenty of time for things to turn aboutisnŒt there?...

Who can blame us that we are so unsure of everything? After all, everything includes all that which is beyond this universe as well

I thank you kindly for your thoughtful words, because knowing you care as well, has just strengthened my faith even more, and IŒm not being funny when I say that..as well as Im not arguing with anything you have said..but I do love a good old deep discussion..and especially about things which trouble both someone else, and myself..for because they do trouble us both (and many more besides) we do at least know, that we arenҒt alone.

Thanks man..

My Love to You, and all your Loved ones AngusŅ

Love Always, because anything else isjust a waste of a lifeŅ

Gary de NiP