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Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 7:05 am
by CommanderKobialka
Will only make sense if you've seen the movie.
Anyways, everything that happened in the movie was indeed backed by science fact. So... anyone having new thoughts about this guy?

http://rt.com/usa/google-kurzweil-singu ... brain-011/

I don't really feel like becoming a part of hive mind at the moment.
Also, after the movie I had this thought: If there are extraterrestrials out there who are more advance than us, then there is no doubt that they have too come to this crossroads in technology. Do you think they've taken the path to Transcendence? It's scary for me to think that the only beings in the universe more intelligent than us are, in fact, computers. I don't think there are any Christians on this forum but I'm a Christian and it also made me wonder if maybe God is the result of such an experiment and if maybe mankind is destined to become like him. (God, please don't kill me) LOL. Thoughts on either of these statements?


Removed duplicate topic

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 8:28 am
by Iv121
Prob is that if god is such experiment who created that experiment in the first place ?

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 8:31 am
by Prototype
Iv121 wrote:Prob is that if god is such experiment who created that experiment in the first place ?
Cthulhu

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:25 am
by CommanderKobialka
Well if it happened like it did in the movie, then God transformed his entire race into a hive mind collective...

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 7:54 pm
by Shadowcatbot
Nope, Computers are lame, Cool cats just shed fleshy organs and skin for cyborg tech and DNA cleaning nanobots.

Besides uploading your brain to a computer would kill you and create an exact copy of you. ME specifically would like to live forever not some highgrade copy.

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:54 pm
by CMA
Reminds me of that Catholic Transhumanist theologian, although I've only skimmed what you're talking about, seems kind of insane.

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 1:25 am
by CommanderKobialka
I'd rather stay 100% flesh and bone human, thank you very much.

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 4:27 am
by Iv121
Well eventually it is just a shift in existence, you cant tell what kind of existence is better until you've tried both, same can be said about death but as you see we are not rushing to suicide right now, that is because we are afraid of the unknown, same applies to transcendence.

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 8:47 am
by Error
Iv's correct - we can't exactly judge an existence we've never tried.

But trying it results in your biological death.

so, slight dilemma.

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 10:04 am
by CommanderKobialka
Icelandic Perehelion wrote:Iv's correct - we can't exactly judge an existence we've never tried.

But trying it results in your biological death.

so, slight dilemma.
Instead of uploading the information in your brain you could somehow hardwire the internet into it with some sort of implant. The uploading idea can be achieved now, but it will kill you and create a copy, like you said. The internet implant is still a little ways off.Then if you want to become a god you still need to find a way to keep yourself alive. Also, CMA is right. There are some completely insane transhumanists out there. For example this guy:


Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 10:16 am
by Chairman_Tiel
Oh god that comments section.

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 12:29 pm
by cats
Really if you think about it you die every time you have a new though, your exact neurological makeup is altered slightly and you're a new person, so if your brain completely dies the exact moment that you're copied to a computer it wouldn't be much different than living from instant-to-instant and impulse-to-impulse. Hashtag shower thoughts.

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 12:43 pm
by Chairman_Tiel
I don't think I'd really mind 'dying' if it meant my personality would live on for an eternity. Everyone wants to leave a legacy behind when we pass, and that seems like the most convenient way to do it.

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 1:02 pm
by CMA
Oh, the guy I mentioned wasn't insane(although the Google guy has sort of a reputation, I think), certainly... odd, but the then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger got really excited about his work. I've yet to find a copy of his book, but according to wikipedia it's basically the theory of evolution(he was a priest-biologist or something) combined with galactics-scale populations of intelligent life, combined with transubstantiation, or something. Franciscans are weird. Anyway, the very fact that we don't understand the mind(and possibly the set-theory rule that no set can contain itself?) pretty much rule out 'immortality' by artificial body.

Re: Thoughts on Transcendence

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 2:29 pm
by Shadowcatbot
catsonmeth wrote:Really if you think about it you die every time you have a new though, your exact neurological makeup is altered slightly and you're a new person, so if your brain completely dies the exact moment that you're copied to a computer it wouldn't be much different than living from instant-to-instant and impulse-to-impulse. Hashtag shower thoughts.
No its completely different. My brain might change every time I have a new thought but my consciousness is still me. Uploading my brain to a computer would be like moving files from a computer to a jumpdrive, It looks like its moving but in reality its making a new copy of the file and deleting the original. Uploading your brain to a computer will kill your counciousness and leave an exact copy of a new conciousness.