Douglas R. Hofstadter - Singularity Summit at Stanford - P3

[danogzilla]

hofstadter spends 30 minutes shitting all over the guy three feet to his left. i love it.

[EstateSoundMatt]

It's so interesting that I accidentally chose this video and this one by Jaron Lanier where he explains his book, You Are Not a Gadget. Maybe we can put them together with a subtitle:

I am a strange loop, not a Gadget: Calm Down, Ray!

[CPLains]

@EstateSoundMatt Wrap it up with a few notes and unleash the manifesto :D

[CPLains]

@CPLains I love manifestos! Hmm.. I think it would have to be in movie-format though. Which reminds me, I have to check out "Transcendent Man" :D

[CPLains]

This is too silent for me. A bit more warmth people.. Why did he have to tremble up there? Did i just imagine that?

This movement needs sincere, intelligent people who can bring diversity to the vision of the future. Inbreeding is always a problem when the majority on the outside only have baseless critiques. It's not enough to invite someone unless there are some efforts to welcome and understand.

Maybe i missed something, but the whole mood seemed forced. A bad "omen"..

[BigMTBrain]

@CPLains - You were focused too much on Ray's apparent consternation, which, in my opinion after having seen lots of Kurzweil videos, is just one of Ray's behavioral quirks to look miffed when he's not speaking, regardless of the topic. If you notice in other camera shots, other members of the panel are shown smiling as well as members of the audience. Even Ray would flash a smile at Hofstadter's zingers or when Hofstadter would claim, "this may sound like a shot, but, believe me, it's not."

[CPLains]

@BigMTBrain You're probably right.

I can't shake the feeling that Hofstadter is somehow out of place there though. Esp. in how he phrases things and expects and hesitates. Would be interesting to know more about the story behind all of this :)

[BigMTBrain]

@CPLains - Yes, it's almost as if he's baiting Kurzweil to lash out. A search for "Hofstadter vs Kurzweil" reveals this quote made 2 years AFTER this summit:

"I think Ray Kurzweil is terrified by his own mortality and deeply longs to avoid death. I understand this obsession of his and am even somehow touched by its ferocious intensity, but I think it badly distorts his vision. As I see it, Kurzweil's desperate hopes seriously cloud his scientific objectivity."

I'm sure similar was said before.

[CPLains]

@BigMTBrain Interesting. These issues of how the movement has high potential to warp our psyche are highly relevant. I mean, thinking about all this stuff requires a new kind of harsh honesty that is extremely rare... extremely rare.. x)

[BigMTBrain]

@CPLains - Agreed! However, just from a pure "rate of progression" standpoint, I have to agree with Kurzweil -- things are advancing at an accelerating pace and this acceleration is somewhat predictable, in the absence of missteps, deterrents, and detractions along the way. I've been reading almost every article on ScienceDaily and several other online science tracking sites for several years now, and it is very clear to me that things are advancing very quickly below the general public radar.

[BigMTBrain]

@CPLains - PCs, cell phones, and the Internet have already been assimilated, so much so that most people are unaware of how much time they spend with them or how dependent they have become upon them. The next phase, when we turn our keys over to our cars and other behavioral shifts that give greater control to AI, will occur almost without notice. In 20 years, don't be surprised when governments only enact policies that agree with AI recommendations. Is this a bad thing? Only time will tell.

[BigMTBrain]

@BigMTBrain - Oops! More like 30 to 50 years for the policies of governments, but it will surely happen.

[BigMTBrain]

@CPLains - Sorry, one more thing... the social networking phenomenon, where people are so very willing to share all of their personal details and activities in text and video, is just another step along the progression of melting our skulls since the time when humans advanced beyond ape-like grunts. Privacy may become an issue at some point, but the trend clearly shows otherwise. Wireless cranial implants will supplant cellphones in 15 to 30 years. Humans will have become telepathic.

[CPLains]

@BigMTBrain It's too bad that while we have a good grasp of the quantitative development, the qualitative development seems impenetrable. For instance higher intelligence. And the qualitative reactions and movements that can suddenly spike up among all this. As people tirelessly point out - religion is still gaining ground rapidly.And for instance, even the people with toilets that wash your behind while playing music and so on -Japan - seems to have developed a highly techophobic (wiki) public.

[CPLains]

@CPLains And of course i mean higher intelligence in a qualitative sense (whatever that means). And probably Japan has become more technophobic because they are reaching some psychological limit to how fast they can incorporate new technology. Maybe! It depends a lot on how people think. I've watched quite a few South Korean movies, and they seem pretty comfortable with all of this. Having a mad northern neighbor with nukes next to you might ease worry of such trivial things :p

[BigMTBrain]

@CPLains - LOL, regarding the South Korean's ever-present distraction. I understand and agree with you regarding the qualitative side of things. I wonder if the "thrill" response that we have regarding nearly all new technology will be of similar distraction. I imagine it will.

[CPLains]

@BigMTBrain Lets both be on the lookout for that moment in peoples faces when thrill turns into horror, that priceless moment before the pin drops and the laughter dies out ;)

[BigMTBrain]

@CPLains - OUCH!!! :D