Douglas Adams 2of2: Expanding perspective with science

[aravindh2002]

Adams reignited my passion for astronomy. I know most of the stuff he's talking about, but I still can watch this again and again for his sheer enthusiasm.

[TheUndeadAmerican]

You guys should check out the film 'Creation' about the life of Darwin. Its about his struggle to bring the truth to the religous world.

[dominictemple]

God damn, I would have loved to have met this man, his death was such a loss to the world.

[cindermonkey2004]

very good speaker. interesting p.o.v.---the sad part is while im only the 13,559 person to watch this video another video by kicesie has had over 101,345,773 views. what does that say about humankind. i like getmethere1 idea. teach at an early age

[bradkey98765]

@cindermonkey2004 well... that's an easy question. It shows that mankind enjoy sex more than science, why? Because a widespread over importance is vital for any species survival.

[SEDomination]

@bradkey98765

Very interesting thought! What do you think of decreasing birth-rates in 1st world countries- is that related?

[bradkey98765]

@SEDomination I feel that in the current 1st world countries people’s view on sex is becoming more and more independent from birth rates. With the effectiveness of contraceptives increasing overtime choosing to not have a child while enjoying sexual congress above most if not all things is very viable.

So in answer to your question, it's not particularly related. People’s views on sex will stay the same as it is one of the only things that all of our ancestors have in common.

[Ramshobraja]

Brilliant man that questions the whole god bs.

[Etimespace]

Thats nice, but quess what?

Space dont expanding at all.

I can proof that science way.

Check it out my video

Hello Jim Carrey, i know how universe really working.

.

[theinquisitor]

@Etimespace, gibberish is you speak.

Using mind power english not make good.

Space do expanding.

Stupid you are.

Go draw more dots.

[poolmunch]

This guy is a legend. Hes up there with Sagan.

[eveningtsar]

What an extraordinary talk. Science fiction, at its best, is about expanding perspective in exactly the way Adams described. Though he was a humourist (or probably because he was a humourist), Adams was one of the best. Saddly missed.

[nathrogers7]

I'll never look at sand the same way again. This man has had a profound effect on my life.

[Tapecutter59]

...continued

Once you have a good simulation you can do science as follows...

1. Watch what it does.

2. Make predictions.

3. Test in virtual system.

4. Make predictions

3. Test in real system.

5. Rinse and repeat..

A virtual human brain is not an "if" question, it's a "how much money" question. Of course answering with a cheque brings up the huge question of virtual minds

Hope that helps, I'm off to start a cult I'm going to convince people that god will rise from the desert sands in their PC

[ekoforever]

ie.

The progression of an application goes through the processes that occur over time through the development, q/a, and production environments.

[jacksawild]

Intelligence looks to be computional, that is, describable mathematically which should make it inherently simulatable. The really interesting question is one of consciousness; firstly, what is it? Secondly can it arise from simulated intelligence or is it an accidental byproduct of complexity, perhaps even an illusion? We have come a long way in understanding our place but we have barely begun to understand ourselves yet. We may create new intelligences to solve questions we are unequipped to.

[Tapecutter59]

@jacksawild Yes that's why it's called the "hard problem" of consciouness. Some people don't recognise it in any species other than humans. If it was to emerge from a simulation would we recoginse it?

[Tapecutter59]

We can model increadibly complex systems such as Earth's climate (see IPCC technical reports) or the mamailian brain (search for "Blue Brain Project"). Modeling nature from the ground up means you don't need to know how the whole system works to be able to build a realistic copy in a virtual world.

[Tapecutter59]

...continued: Every major engineering project in the modern world was first built in a "virtual world". In many cases the virtual project is feed to industrial robots who then build your car or some other mass produced gadget.

The thing with the "cat" is a system made of smaller (simpler) parts that interact with simple physical laws.

We can model those simple parts and the way in which they interact in a computer.

[Packitlikesardines]

Around 4.40, Douglas becomes very confusing. Makes me shed a tear listening to this extraordinary man. Humour is the most lethal weapon when fightning irrationality. Peace

[Tapecutter59]

Ahem, computer scientist here :)

He's talking about computersd an their ability to study the universe (and ourselves) by simulating it.

The average vidoe game demonstrates this by simulating the game's "physics". I think it's shows what an amazing mind Adam's had to see this concept back then (90's?).

Natural systems can be simulated to a mind boggling degree with huge supercomputer' far an example search for Japan's "Earth Simulator".

[Packitlikesardines]

Hehe.. thanks for the four-months-later response :) As the description says, this talk was recorded in 98'. Shame he didn't live to attend TEDtalks - would have been amazing.. Anyway, thanks for the tip. I'll definitely look it up.

[GetMeThere1]

Good. This reminds me of something I've thought of many times (and, apparently, NOBODY else thinks of much)....and it's this:

THIS is exactly the kind of thing we ought to be teaching young kids (starting at like ages 6-8 or so). Teaching them HOW we think, WHAT are our built-in prejudices, etc. Epistemology for children.

THINK of how far those children could progress vs a system where instead ONLY the brightest of them figure this stuff out in their 30's and beyond.

[porcupineprovocateur]

absolutely right my friend.

as the sheer quantity of knowledge we have about the world increases, education of HOW we think, rather than specifically WHAT we think must become elementary.

[MazeleyFanClub]

@GetMeThere1 Think of how far society will regress when humans stop having standards of behavior.

[z3r0t0l3r4ns]

@MazeleyFanClub

What does that have to do with the comment that you are replying to? Or are you one of those depressingly simple people that still think we need god to tell us how to behave?

[Guerrilla705]

@GetMeThere1 actually one of the beliefs of the IB programme, hence the requirement of ToK and other types of teaching. Its a very good program for what you decribe, but it comes at the cost of cold hard memorized information, which is still what the education system (At least in america) is about, and has been since the beginning of the cold war. The standard school system produces scientists to make bombs, not scientists to ask questions.

[humanist7117]

Though the mind arose out of the brain, they have evolved different functions.

[warren52nz]

I like the bit in HitchHikers Guide that tells of a race that believe the Universe was sneezed out of the nose of the Great Arkleseizure and now they fear the Coming of the Great White Handkerchief. Brilliant! And by the way, you can't prove that's not true any more than you can prove God doesn't exist. You cannot prove something doesn't exist. That's why they're still looking for Sasquatch and the Loch Ness Monster. What you CAN do is dismiss something as improbable that's why I'm an Atheist.

[alphaimposter]

Just don't forget that a heart of gold drives on infinite improbability... ;)

[MilesB1975]

Bless You in the name of Arkleseizure.

[VonDenHottentotten]

It's not improbable. There is not probability at all, because there is nothing to base a probability on. It's just completely, absolutely undefined.

Like x divided by 0.

[Waranoa]

continued :) : The boundaries of the mind, are there where our minds fail to pick up something significant. There is a point behind which there simply is no existence, no point of existence, no reason, not even chaos, only absurdity, because how can it be that nothing exits, while there is so much of everything present that we RELY on to exist; simple, really, nothing can exists if the things that it depends on are not there: things can exist only where they are probable :)

[Odonus2]

Well the world has 6,5 billion people, and sure, lots of people have Douglas' or Dawkins' insight on life....but Douglas and Dawkins are the ones who have influence.

And thus, would be quite useful if these individuals did not die. Not only could they entertain people like them, but everybody else who bothers to listen to them.

[theantiantichrist]

i realise this might come as a shock to you, but douglas has been dead for seven years.

[Odonus2]

Lol I know he's not with us anymore.

It makes my statement stand up more because of the fact that we can't stop it from happening.

[Mjhavok]

The 3 ages of sand. That is a nice way to put it.

[Odonus2]

Douglas Adams and Richard Dawkins are in a small group of people who should never die.

[Mjhavok]

Can I please join that group. We can call it the lightning league.

[Mario10016]

very insightful

[ilovepoker929]

I love Dawkins, but the real tragedy is the omission of Darwin.

[Warriorofhyrule]

Adams is one of my heroes.

No one else has ever made so much sense.

[chaoboyace]

I'm currently reading the Salmon of Doubt. This lecture and many writings and lectures are also included in it. Check it out. Very insightful and entertaining, as is all of his work.

[alien8ted]

Eratosthenes, Kepler, Newton, Galileo, Maxwell, Planck, Einstein, Feynman, Hawking, Sagan, Adams. These are the true geniuses that have made the universe comprehensible. May there be many more like them!

[tamriel462]

yeah, and they're almost all physicists.

[Mjhavok]

Watson and Crick anyone?

[Mjhavok]

Aristarchus, Copernicus, Maxwell, Faraday, Bohr, Schrödinger, Planck, Hubble, Darwin,

[grawk1]

Newton, Young, Einstein, Hawking, and (if i may break these strictly scientific ranks) Neitzsche, Marx, Freud, Jung, Socrates, Orwell, Mozart, Bach and (the only lving addition to thislist, although sadly this might not be true for too much longer) Pratchett.

[zoltai9]

Mr. Adams promised us lots of new and exciting books from a stock of new ideas he'd had whilst travelling; I'm devastated he's dead. There is literally NO ONE as insightful as him, in his novels, and in his life. He was one in a billion.

CURSE the morons who made that awful movie. Only Steven Fry was well cast, and Zaphod could have been worse, but they butchered it, cut it to ribbons!

[theinquisitor]

I agree, that hollywoodized piece of tripe was an insult to the legend that is Douglas Adams. I'm glad they made the new phases to the radio series, even using an old recording of Douglas for one of the characters. Those were decent. Why do they have to make shitty remakes for the American audience? Now everyone will think of that piece of crap when they think of Hitch-hikers.

[ss3012a]

i wont...^^

[theantiantichrist]

i know many people with douglas's insight. They're just not famous. Or not as famous. he is funny and has a great deal of insight, but is not 1 in a billion.

[theinquisitor]

Well, there are only 6 people who are 1 in a billion after all.

[Mjhavok]

Name some.

[theantiantichrist]

I am not talking about even remotely famous people. Just a lot of everyday people. take a visit to cambridge or any serious universitiy, you will find many people who have the insight and creative humour displayed by adams. I mean in no way to lower his status, I am one of his biggest fans and beleive his 'puddle' analogy to be one of the greatest things every devised. I only point ut that he is not 1 in a billion, or a million. He was a lucky man whop had some considerable talent, but no more t

[theinquisitor]

Perhaps it is that we don't intuitively understand numbers like a million or a billion and so we tend to misuse them when observing something that is extraordinary to our relatively small sample sizes.

[theantiantichrist]

or maybe you mean to say; we exagerate for effect. And maybe it is the case that some have better samples than others.

[intermender]

hey dude, humour is in the ear of the beholder

[theantiantichrist]

NO!

[theantiantichrist]

They're not in public standing. That is my point. Many people are as funny as Adams, and as insightful, but only a few make it to public limelight.

[Mjhavok]

I also agree that movie sucked ass. I do however think the chick that played Trillian was quite pretty.

[askegg]

Everyone - please read "The Salmon of Doubt" for more insights form this brilliant, witty, funny, and insightful man. Douglas, we miss you.

[Mjhavok]

The inaccurately named Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy is fantastic. Babel Fish FTW.

I have the Dirk Gently omnibus but have yet to read it.

[AtheistAaron]

DNA, RIP!

[RabidApe]

I've never seen so much consecutive footage of him, thanks!!!

[zbambam5]

thanks a lot Douglas Adams is awesome.