Does anyone ever feel that neuroscience is getting more and more lovecraftian and challenging basic assumptions of what it means to be human? It sometimes feels like we're at a point in history where all the basic tenets of existence are being torn down by science and replaced with... nothing. Am I the only one who gets existential crisises from this kind of stuff? :p
The luddite in me wishes that science will never be able to fully pick apart the human psyche. Here's to having an inscrutable ghost in the machine to keep us from being mere deterministic flesh-bots...
There have been other times in history that scientists had the idea that science was almost complete, that there were just a few things left to sort out and we'd understand it all (such as around 1900 with mathematics).
We may think we are very near and then discover something new and then find out a lot of new questions around the mind and consciousness. I don't think we're quite there yet.
However I'm sure "shallow AI" (and maybe "shallow mindreading") will become more and more important in the near future. Which is what IBM is focusing on.
BTW: Thanks for the pointer. That book looks very interesting.
BTW: Thanks for the pointer. That book looks very interesting.
I'm actually not so happy about posting that link. For me, it states things that I had already mostly figured out on my own previously. For others, it might zap a lot of Sanity Points.
I would say Ligotti is a very unique writer, in that he's deeply immersed in existentialist philosophy, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, AND lovecraftian horror. It makes for a very... disturbing cocktail.
Of course, everyone on HN is seemingly a Nietzschean overman who can take these kinds of things in stride. Me, not so much :p
I'm not sure who is right, but note that transhumanists have a very different view on such developments.
Also, if the "basic tenets of existence" (whatever you consider those to be) can be torn down by looking at them critically, shouldn't they be? (Perhaps.)
Also, if the "basic tenets of existence" (whatever you consider those to be) can be torn down by looking at them critically, shouldn't they be? (Perhaps.)
I think this problem will become apparent when we are able to create real human minds, and put them in real interactive environment that stimulates our world. Who is the god?
It doesn't help, of course, that I'm currently reading this book: http://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Against-Human-Race-Contriva...
The luddite in me wishes that science will never be able to fully pick apart the human psyche. Here's to having an inscrutable ghost in the machine to keep us from being mere deterministic flesh-bots...