Sentience as life

Another of my "Automata blogs"

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Whilst I find Descartes thoroughly interesting I find his description of humans as nothing more than biological machines disheartening. I don't necessarily believe in any sort of external soul but I do believe that life is much more than biological mechanisms that happen to work in tandem. I believe that sentience is the key to whether or not a being is alive, self-awareness, instinct; these things are present in animals but not in machines. A machine is nothing more than a series of pre-coded algorithms and binary codes. Even the most advanced machines currently built cannot come close to life, they can only mimic. Whilst it could be argued that this is the mimetic faculty at work I do not believe this is so. The mimetic faculty is learning and I don't believe that machine 'learn', they can only be reprogrammed. The fact that "To simulate a virtual human brain using existing technology would require a supercomputer the size of the Pentagon" (source BBC Focus magazine, issue 209, November 2009, p. 122) would suggest that mechanicals are not even close to replicating the complexity of nature. I am fully aware that Descartes was writing at a time when life was much less well understood but I still find his dismissive attitude towards life as nothing more than mechanical action as short sighted; perhaps he harboured a secret messiah complex.

Having said this, however, I do believe that, as technology advances, we could well see virtual brains developed that are sentient and are free thinking. In this months BBC Focus magazine (the source for my previous quote, which I will bring to this weeks seminar) there is an article dedicated to a group of scientists in Switzerland who are attempting to build a virtual brain inside a supercomputer. Software that will be able to "think, remember and even get angry" (p. 27); the key point here is not mimic the physical affects of an emotional response, but to actually have that emotional response. The reason for this is that the current research being done is reverse engineered from real, living mammal brains. Starting with rats and working their way up to humans. One of the scientists involved in the study is so optimistic that he believes a fully functioning 'human brain' is only 10 years away. The biggest difference between what the Swiss scientists are attempting and what has been done before is most easily explained here:

"Synaptic plasticity is the basis for learning and memory, a feature that Blue Brain [the name of the Swiss team's software] replicates to set it apart from most approaches to mimicking the mind. Both artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience often try to imitate the brain's abilities, such as playing chess, with some success. So while IBM's Deep Blue chess computer managed to beat grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997, it wouldn't be able to automatically learn a new board game. A biologically accurate virtual brain could." (p. 30)

This highlights the remarkable difference with what has been tried before and what these scientists are attempting now. Unlike previous attempts they aren't just programming a computer they are infact building a synthetic brain. If they are successful one thing I wonder is whether or not their synthetic brains could be shrunk down to the same size of human brain tissue and then replace damaged or destroyed brain tissue in humans. Perhaps this would be a better use of resources than attempting to create true artificial intelligence.

I do not necessarily disagree with this line of research but I do feel that it is the wrong way to go. The fascination of creating life, actual tangible life, is intriguing and I do not fear what a sentient robot might do (a la Skynet in the Terminator franchise); but I do fear how morality may come to play with this. I believe that machines, non-sentient, should be servants; built by man to make man's life easier. If a sentient life is created then we will lose every opportunity that mechanicals give us to move towards a more truly free society. A society free from wage slavery and corporate oppression, a society free from non-equality, a society where people can live and not worry about working a dead end job just to keep the wolves from the door. This is the opportunity that non-sentient automata offer us as a species. I believe that if we are able to create a sentient life form entirely from our own technology then I believe they are the same as us; for me awareness is life and if an autonomous robot is self aware then it should be afforded the same rights as other life, and not used as slave labour. For me the only difference, that would exist, is that whilst we are a Carbon based life form they would be Silicon based.

First feature film I'm in

So tomorrow I go and see my first feature film for the first time. I am both nervous and exited. I know I will spend the entire time thinking I'm shit but hopefully the 4 friends I have going with me will think otherwise... we shall see.

KillBoY

I've had the pseudonym a long while now. Does it still fit?

Probably.

I am a vagabond.

Sick

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/fashion/2009/10/14/2009-10-14_model_fired_for_being_too_fat.html

A collection of odd lines I've jotted down in the last month, assembled in a vague manner

The fresh smell of vomit permeates the air,
Reminding me of the hate and despair,
Lost and rendered with feelings of hope,
Dashed on fair Whitby's rocky cliffs,

The lonely wanderer continues the journey,
Searching ever onward for his land of plenty,
The bus driver sits behind bullet proof glass,
As the stuttering behemoth unveils the past,
The wayfarer,
Forgetting his place,
Turns ashamed as he abandons his grace,
Rattling down these old cobbled streets,
The paving as cracked as his weathered skin,
Unable to catch the gaze,
Of those that he meets,

Preachers line those splintered paths,
Proclaiming the end of the world,
He laughs,
For the world around him will never end,
He is the eternal, immortal, death's only friend,

The journey continues at night,
Hollowed faces,
Skin stretched on bone,
Aboard the midnight train,
That brings us all home,
Outside of the windows,
Nothing but black,
Stretching beyond,
The sight that we lack,
Bleary-eyed, the drifters fellow nomads,
Restlessly nod their heads,
To the click clack rhythm of steel on steel,
Praying for a journey's end,

But still the train goes on,
The wheels of this nation will never slow down.
A vagabond,
Alone,
If I'd have died tonight,
I'd have never been able to tell you,
I love you.

I had that dream again

For one fleeting moment I thought it was real, and I was sated.

Mass Extinction Events

In this month's focus magazine ( http://www.bbcfocusmagazine.com/ ) there is an article on endangered species and how by the end of the century more than 50% of all species around today could be gone by the end of the century. Within the article it lists the biggest five extinction events in the Earth's history and the remarkable thing is that the K-T event ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Tertiary_extinction_event ), which is probably the most famous mass extinction, didn't actually kill off as much of life as you might think. It wiped out the dinosaurs (with the exception of birds) but compared to the other mass extinction events it was actually relatively tame.

The banner in the article states the following:

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ORDOVICIAN-SILURIAN
-440 Million Years Ago-
The second largest extinction. Up to 85% of species vanish probably due to global cooling.

LATE DEVONIAN
-364 Million Years Ago-
20% of all species, mostly marine based, die out in a massive environmental shift. The root cause is not known.

PERMIAN-TRIASSIC
-251 Million Years Ago-
The biggest extinction event in history - the 'Great Dying'. A combination of natural disasters kills off 96% of marine species and 70% of land species.

TRIASSIC-JURASSIC
-199-214 Million Years Ago-
Massive volcanic eruptions are the prime suspect in the demise of 23% of all species. It vacated ecological niches to be exploited by dinosaurs.

CRETACEOUS-TERTIARY (K-T)
-65 Million Years Ago-
A meteor collides with Earth. The effects of the impact probably killed off 16% of marine species and 18% of land animals - including the dinosaurs.

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Now if the scientists are correct then this century will see the 3rd largest extinction level event in the Earth's history; and it is primarily humankind's fault. Humans ARE an extinction level event! Makes you think doesn't it?

My lungs hate me

I am coughing like a mother fucker, and I think I can taste blood. This could be the start of a beautiful illness :(

My blog this week for one of my course modules

The subject I found most intriguing during last weeks seminar was the changing relationship between the written word and iconographic images from the reformation to the present day.

For me personally the written word, and language as a whole, carry much more weight and substance than images and icons. Firstly images are far too ambiguous. As was mentioned last week the swastika once (and to many people still does) represented peace . For many westerners nowadays though it represents fear, hatred, pain, suffering. To the Jewish population it represents the culmination of thousands of years of oppression andprejudice. The words, meanwhile are much more succinct and specific: Nazism; Peace... there is no ambiguity there. The one manner in which images may succeed better than words are in crossing cultures where language causes difficulties; but even in this problems arise. Different hand gestures mean different things in different cultures. To an American the index and middle fingers extended outwards into a V shape will always mean peace. To a British person however having the fingers facing outwards means f**k off and a dutch friend of mine tells me that holding them sideways (in a greater or less than shape <>) with the fingers facing outwards means c**t. They may only be minor issues but they are significant in dealing with people of different cultural backgrounds.

However despite this I cannot deny that we live in an incredibly image based culture now. Images are piped into our lives on biblical proportions: in magazines; television; billboards; the internet these images are constant and damaging. Unlike words images can work on a more subliminal level, permeating our subconscious before out conscious and causing us to be drawn towards certain things over others without even being aware of it. Perhaps the most damaging subliminal image that is thrust upon us is in the representation of the human body; primarily (but by no means exclusively) that of womyn.

Unilever began running, in 2004, the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and whilst I do feel the campaign was poorly executed, not to mention its purpose being entirely to sell more products, they did produce an eye opening advert which shows the extent to which images are created for our consumption.

One of my favourite bands also regularly addresses the issue of the unfair representation of beauty in western cultures; most sigificantly in their 2006 song (and music video) This is the End (for you my friend):

Anti-Flag - This Is The End (For You My Friend) (Official Music - Watch more funny videos here

Inside the album sleeve there is also a short piece by Jean Kilbourne, a noted social theorist who specialises in the representation of womyn by the media:

"Advertising is an over $250 billion a year industry. We are exposed to over 3000 ads a day and will spend two years of our lives watching television commercials. Yet, remarkably, most of us believe we are not influenced by advertising. Ads sell a great deal more than products. They sell values, images, and concepts of success and worth, love, and sexuality, popularity and normalcy. They tell us who we should be ... Sometimes they sell addictions."

"Hollywood and the fashion, cosmetics and diet industries work hard to make each of us believe that our bodies are unacceptable and need constant improvement. Print ads and television commercials reduce us to body parts -lips, legs, breasts- airbrushed and touched up to meet impossible standards. TV shows tell women and teenage girls that cosmetic surgery is good for self-esteem. Is it any wonder that more than 80% of fourth grade girls have been on some sort of fad diet"

Holy Shit!

For sometimes many of us have wondered who is Jack Shit? We find ourselves at a loss when someone says, You don't know Jack Shit? Thanks to my efforts you can now respond in an intellectual way. Jack shit is the only son of Argh Shit who married Oh Shit, the owners of Knee Deep N Shit Inc. In turn Jack Shit Married Noe Shit. The couple had 6 children, Holy Shit, Giva Shit, Fulla Shit, Bull Shit, and the twins Deep Shit and Dip Shit. Deep Shit married Dumb Shit, a high school dropout. After 15 years, Jack and Noe Shit got divorced and she married Ted Sherlock and became Noe Shit Sherlock. Meanwhile, Dip Shit married Lota Shit and had a rather nervous child named Chicken Shit. Fulla Shit and Giva Shit married the Happens brothers n had a double wedding. The newspaper invited everyone to the Shit-Happens wedding. Bull Shit traveled the world and returned home with an italian bride, Pisa Shit. Easy innit eh?

NASA Fail!

I'm not sure what I was doing on the Daily Mail's website but this made me lol.

It wasn't a bomb though, it was a projectile... the Daily Mail cannot get anything right.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1218768/Revealed-The-flash-saw-Nasas-49million-bomb-crashed-Moon-quest-discover-water.html

30 GOP Senators Vote to Defend Gang Rape

The headline is a little sensationalist but it is effectively correct. I have nothing really to say on this... except that I am sickened. Read it, watch the video, be disgusted.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/healthwellness/143164/30_gop_senators_vote_to_defend_gang_rape/

And people ask me why I don't think that politicians are in touch with the real world.

The criminality of being right.

An accusation I have often had levied at myself is "you always have to be right haven't you?"; and it has always struck me as odd. I often wonder if they have a point, am I just too pig ignorant to ever possibly admit that I am wrong? But then I think about the occasions when this is said and it usually comes at the end of a heated debate, one in which I have stood my ground firmly and have not been proven to be wrong; I have not nessasarily proven myself to be correct but the ad hominem attack always occurs when the 'opposition' has no further logical debate to bring to the table.

Now contrary to popular belief I can admit when I am wrong and, when I am convinced by the other viewpoint, I often revel in it. No one person can hold all of the answers and quite frankly, even if I did, I wouldn't want that responsibility. But the fact remains that seldom does someone ever break my viewpoint, mostly because the standard of debate these days is relatively shallow and self absorbed. The occasions, most recently, when I have been forced to concede defeat have almost all occurred on TPU (mostly before its move to the "official" Anti-Flag forums but while it was an unofficial one which probably had more people on it who weren't A-F fans than were) and I positively relish it. The debate is exhilarating, well thought out and logical; I find myself no longer being forced to play devil's advocate just to spark something and I feel challenged by it. I love it. I have questioned my own thought processes and ideas and it makes me happy to do so. If anything I have been driven even more toward the left than ever before; I now consider calling me a Liberal almost as insulting as calling me a Conservative.

However even when the standard of debate is good there are two key reasons why I don't often admit defeat:

First of all I do not like confrontation. I often find it unnecessary and superficial. Confrontation tends to only highlight our differences as people and very little progress ever comes from it. As a result of this I will often not engage in a debate unless I am already confident of my position and feel that it needs to be said. I will only debate when it is something worthwhile.

Secondly, and most importantly, I am extremely well read. Please forgive my arrogance on this but reading is something that I relish, and the vast majority of my reading is political texts. I don't just read texts from a leftist standpoint either, I quite happily read conservative texts even if I do sometimes feel IQ points dropping and my brain melting as I do so (much the same affect as the Daily Mail has on me really). The simple fact is I read. I read books (my favourite), websites, newspapers, magazines, anything really and I like to keep myself informed. Science, politics, religion, anything and everything. I realised quite recently that, aside from play texts, I had read no fiction since coming to university (hence my recent re-obsession with Harry Potter, something simple to ease myself back into it).

But it is in this second point which is most vibrant for me. We seem to be developing a severe anti-intellectual movement in this country which I think we have inherited from our American neighbours over the pond. Now I'm not saying I am particularly intellectual. I like to think I'm smart, well read, and thoughtful though whether or not I am an 'intellectual' I'm not sure. But the anti-intellectual thing is odd. With the exception of trains you don't really see people reading much these days, everyone is always too busy rushing about urgently flitting from shop to shop for the latest commodity with which to bedeck their already bursting homes full of stuff they don't need.

I think Bill Hicks put it best



Carlin says something good about "stuff" as well

Hokay

So staying up until 3.10am, when you have to be up at 7am, reading the Harry Potter Wiki sites and the Deathly Hallows (slowly, I'm enjoying it less than last time I read it) probably wasn't the best idea... so I'm a geek; shoot me.

And it has just reminded me that Rowling killed of Tonks in tDH... Lupin I could deal with, hell I think I could possibly even forgive her for finishing Sirius; but Tonks??!? Dude she was awesome.

That being said nothing quite compares to killing of Hedwig, that was just low.

Rowling and Russell T Davies should form a little club of their own shouldn't they.

God I suck. DW I will return to moaning about politics and posting random crap the internet throws up shortly... if these 9am Wednesday starts don't kill me first. It's a good thing Automata is an ace module and Kara is an amazingly nice person or else I might have gone mad already (and it's only week 2).


Peace and Love Boys and Girls, Peace and Love.

P.S. - GTFO of my gene pool is now my favourite insult... take that as you like.