[lit-ideas] Re: Wither Evolution?
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:23:27 -0500
JMc
Serendipitously, I happen to be reading a series of science fiction
novels by Niel Asher that presume a future in which humanity is
embedded in a "Polity" ruled by AIs and the biggest threat to human
survival is an alien technology that is able to learn from, learn
about and take over any intelligent lifeform it encounters.
Thoughts?
I'm not afraid of anything I can unplug.
Mike Geary
Memphis
----- Original Message -----
From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Anthro-L" <ANTHRO-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 12:18 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Wither Evolution?
From a keynote presentation by computer scientist and science-fiction
writer Vernor Vinge at the recent Hot Chips conference (hat tip to
CNET).
"An extreme, non-failure scenario: Digital Gaia
Suppose our progress is not blocked. How ubiquitous can ubiquitous
computing come to be?
Nowadays, most biologists recognize three great Domains of Life:
Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryota [illustration from Wikipedia].
Perhaps we should consider that we are seeing the beginning of a new
Domain of Life: ubiquitous IC logic. (True, the IC Domain is not
descended from our hypothetical biological common ancestor -- but it
is the creation of a twig on that great Tree of Life.)
One might criticize this fancy because ICs cannot reproduce without
the aid of existing life forms and their products -- but this is also
true of the animals, including humans!
Possible characteristics the IC Domain:
Probably very fast evolution
At the "center", the "server farms" of such an era should be clearly
superhuman (okay, so this is another path to the Technological
Singularity)
At the "edges", the material world could awaken.
And a piece of good news (at least reasoning by analogy with our
current "tree of life"): We humans would probably continue as the
fallback rescue system for the new critters who think they are running
the show."
For context, see http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/vinge/hotchips/
John
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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