A very clever AI without a sense of purpose might very well ‘realize the impermanence of everything, calculate that the sun will burn out in a few billion years, and decide to play video games for the remainder of its existence.’

Link

Hah, I did that, and I’m not even that clever!

These clever nano-scale critters are made of glass with one side covered by cobalt, which is magnetic, so it can be precisely controlled by a 3D magnetic field to travel through your body. They’re even capable of pushing objects 10000 times larger, so they could be used for delivering drugs to specific points of the body. Link to Newscientist.

h+ covers technological, scientific, and cultural trends that are changing — and will change — human beings in fundamental ways. We will be following developments in areas like NBIC (nano-bio-info-cog), longevity, performance enhancement and self-modification, Virtual Reality, “The Singularity,” and other areas that both promise and threaten to radically alter our lives and our view of the world and ourselves.

More than that, h+ aims to reflect this newest edge culture by featuring creative expressions of humanity on a razor’s edge where daily life and science fiction seem to be merging.

]]> http://ninjamonkeys.co.za/2009/02/27/h-magazine/feed/ 0 http://ninjamonkeys.co.za/2008/04/08/i-am-the-very-model-of-a-singularitarian/ http://ninjamonkeys.co.za/2008/04/08/i-am-the-very-model-of-a-singularitarian/#comments Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:27:24 +0000 Vaughn Dickson http://ninjamonkeys.co.za/?p=792

Charlie Kam‘s humourous I am the very model of a Singularitarian version of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General,” from the Gilbert & Sullivan opera, “The Pirates of Penzance.”

Lyrics:

I am the very model of a Singularitarian
I’m combination Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian,
Aggressively I’m changing all my body’s biochemistry
Because my body’s heritage is obsolete genetically,
Replacing all the cells each month it’s here just temporarily
The pattern of my brain and body’s where there’s continuity,
I’ll try to improve these patterns with optimal biology,
(“But how will I do that? I need to be smarter. Ah, yes…�)
I’ll expand my mental faculties by merging with technology,
Expand his mental faculties by merging with technology,
Expand his mental faculties by merging with technology
Expand his mental faculties by merging with technology

And with our new technology, renewable clean energy,
Remove our pathogens and overcome hunger and poverty
In short I am a Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
I am the very model of a Singularitarian
In short he is a Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
He is the very model of a Singularitarian

Knowledge in all forms music, art, science and technology,
Our brains and bodies all precious and any loss a tragedy
Important recognitions and insights are what we should retain
While we destroy all of the useless information that remains
And when a person dies we lose a profound pattern tragically,
And the part of ourselves that interacted with them lit’rally
Religious folks may rationalize that death is really something good
(“Something Good? Something GOOD? Eh?)
I think they’d change their minds if Singularity were understood
I think they’d change their minds if Singularity were understood
I think they’d change their minds if Singularity were understood
I think they’d change their minds if Singularity were understood

I create and appreciate all of the knowledge that I know
Toward greater order even though complexity I know may grow
In short I am Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
I am the very model of a Singularitarian
In short he is a Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
He is the very model of a Singularitarian

The purpose of the universe is that of all our human lives
Since no aliens have come forth this much we can now rationalize
We’ll spread our thoughts with nanobots that know how to self-replicate
Through solar system, Milky Way or anywhere we designate
Ideas are our products that will solve the problems of our fate
And new ideas for the problems we can’t yet articulate
Let’s leverage all our knowledge from the returns that accelerate
(Returns that accelerate? Sounds familiar. Ah yes, the law of accelerating returns by Ray Kurzweil, of course, OF COURSE!)
So the outcome of universe is something we can contemplate
The outcome of universe is something we can contemplate
The outcome of universe is something we can contemplate
The outcome of universe is something we can contemplate

The singularity is near but I won’t be indifferent
In case something should go awry I’ll do my bestest to prevent
Because I am a Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
I am the very model of a Singularitarian
Because he is a Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
He is the very model of a Singularitarian

(Yes! Singularity! Woo hoo! Singularity is here! Singularity is near! Singularity!)

Step into one of these robotic exoskeletons and perform super-human feats of strength with fluid and precise human motion. Right now it’s still tethered to a power-source and safety cable, but with a nanomaterial power source we could be bounding up Mt. Everest fairly soon.

Religion depends on a god to help humans transcend, usually by dying first, but with the singularity we’re building the technology to transcend by ourselves. It’s a matter of having faith in ourselves versus having faith in a fickle God that will only let us transcend if we behave according to its laws.

Which idea do you prefer?

Will the music of Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald be heard 100 generations from now? A major gift from David Packard has greatly increased the long odds on that. David’s $150M bequeath, the largest private gift ever to the U.S. legislative branch, launched the just-opened National Audio-Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC) of the National Library of Congress – the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts, sound recordings, and media collateral. [The Long Now blog]

I sit on the soft sand watching the early morning light spill out across the water, feeling it fill me with energy. The ocean responds to the dawn by breaking into waves with perfect curls. It is time. I heft my board under my arm and jog down to the water. That first touch of ice, cringing in agony as it freezes my bone marrow, and then acceptance: that the goal is worth the pain.

Gradually warming up my arms, I paddle slowly at first and then harder to get behind the break. Duck dive under a wave, and shake the water from my hair as I emerge frozen, but refreshed. Behind the break now, the water is calm and silent. I turn around and begin the wait for that perfect wave. Seagulls are bobbing up and down beside me, giving me a curious eye, as if I’ve brought a snack from shore just for them. The light has turned the water to liquid gold, and it is impossible to see past the surface. I can see my car on shore in an empty carpark. Such perfect weather, yet I’m the only one surfing, odd.

Something bumps into my foot, hard. I look down quickly, but I’m too slow, and my board is already exploding upwards to my face. I throw myself off in a panic, swimming backwards, trying to see what is happening. I expect my worst fears to be realized: shark attack! But the object bobbing on the surface between the two halves of my surfboard is no shark. It’s a perfect sphere just big enough for my arms to fit around. Colours shift and slide across its surface like the rainbow found in a patch of oily scum. I paddle slowly closer, like a dog approaching a porcupine: wary of the danger, but stupidly intent on seeing what will happen. As I get closer the colours start moving slower, but still show no pattern. It’s mesmerizing. I’m next to it now, and I see that the water isn’t even touching the surface of the sphere, it’s held away by empty space the width of my fist.

I try to touch the side, but my hand slips off it like a magnet being repulsed by another. I try again, and this time my hand sinks through. It feels like warm jelly. It starts to heat up. I yank my hand away, but it is stuck firm. The heat is becoming unbearable. The more I struggle to pull my hand out the further in it sinks. My arm is being dragged in now, up to the elbow, then the shoulder. I start screaming, from pain more than the hope that anyone will hear me. Darkness explodes from the sphere, pushing the water away as quickly as I’m dragged into it.

Absolute darkness. I’m dry, so I can’t still be in the water, but I can’t be in the sphere, it’s too small. The heat and pain are gone; I can’t feel my body! I try to panic, but curiously I’m calm. The darkness gives way to the same oily shifting colours on the outside of the sphere, but all perspective is gone, and I can make no sense of the shape. I sense minds in the colours now, millions of them, all blended together, but still individual. I’m unafraid. I sense a voice, a cacophony at first, and then a harmony. Not a voice, but a thought, brought to life by the minds surrounding me. “Hello Jack. You are one of the chosen ones. Welcome to the Singularity. Humanity’s next step.”