"With a sufficiently advanced neural interface enabling instantaneous manifestation of any and all imagination (What Dreams May Come, Inception), physical possessions and lands, bodily appearance, resource scarcity, and all associated drama and conflict will become obsolete overnight. People will want just five things a) an uplink to the Matrix, b) medical care, c) nutrition for their vacated bodyshells, d) protection of their vacated bodyshells, and e) access to physical avatars for teleportation in atomspace. These five items and services will incur some resource cost. Everything else – supercars, superyachts, megamansions, banquets, the finest wines, art, clothing, and book collections, bodyskins, simulated companions, museums, private islands, private planets – will be free."
Aurelian Solaris Carpathia
Showing posts with label cyberpunk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cyberpunk. Show all posts
11/13/14
5/4/13
945
"I think we passed Transhumanism when people started to create new non-invasive ways to
modify the human body. (...)We
are talking of Augemented Reality not anymore of Augmented
Humanity. There are so may people out there who won't make their
skulls modified or their eyes cybernetic but can wear glasses as cool
fashion gadget or new-designed exoskeleton with useful functions.
This is the basic idea of the functionality and modular systems: If you have a permanent modification you have to do it again to change it back but if you have a gadget and a new one is developed you simply change the gadget or upgrade it to new functionalities.
I think the dream of the cable that goes from your head to your PC is a bit out of date and Transhumanism should worry about the new culture of the beautiful body (...).
Nowadays everything is about beauty, and that's the reason we can see so much new external cool gadgets that convey us the sensation of the future not just for the functions but also for the shape.
Having this re-start of garage people, hackers in life, who actually create products that make you the producer of things (Arduino, 3D printers, open source software) do we really want someone else to implant a chip in our head that could make our life easier but could also monitor us 24/7?
This is the basic idea of the functionality and modular systems: If you have a permanent modification you have to do it again to change it back but if you have a gadget and a new one is developed you simply change the gadget or upgrade it to new functionalities.
I think the dream of the cable that goes from your head to your PC is a bit out of date and Transhumanism should worry about the new culture of the beautiful body (...).
Nowadays everything is about beauty, and that's the reason we can see so much new external cool gadgets that convey us the sensation of the future not just for the functions but also for the shape.
Having this re-start of garage people, hackers in life, who actually create products that make you the producer of things (Arduino, 3D printers, open source software) do we really want someone else to implant a chip in our head that could make our life easier but could also monitor us 24/7?
Who guarantees me that it is secure and my
privacy will not be restricted by law and through the chip (...)?
Personally I like technology because of the switch off button."
Personally I like technology because of the switch off button."
Mattia Galli
10/27/12
931
"Dr. Amit Goswami is a Quantum Physicist from the University of Oregon
(rtd) and he heavily builds on the reincarnation research in crafting a theory based on
Quantum Mechanics, arguing that consciousness is a quantum non-locality.
If some of the other physicists are right that the universe is basically a quantum program and we're AI running in that program that have evolved out of the basic computer physics, then reincarnation would just be a copying and reuse of that AI program that is the basis for our consciousness. Reincarnation would make sense then as a re-use of basic character design, just as in programming a game one might re-use code for the core of characters but with certain attributes changed.
Maybe AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) has already been invented in a VRU (Virtual Reality Universe) and is called humanity..."
Anonymous
If some of the other physicists are right that the universe is basically a quantum program and we're AI running in that program that have evolved out of the basic computer physics, then reincarnation would just be a copying and reuse of that AI program that is the basis for our consciousness. Reincarnation would make sense then as a re-use of basic character design, just as in programming a game one might re-use code for the core of characters but with certain attributes changed.
Maybe AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) has already been invented in a VRU (Virtual Reality Universe) and is called humanity..."
Anonymous
8/23/12
901
"In a society that has destroyed all adventure, the only adventure left is to destroy that society."
8/2/12
896
"Picture this (because one day your iPhone may not let you): you're at a concert seeing your favorite band. You want to get a simple picture to remember the moment forever, so you whip out your iPhone 9000, but the camera button doesn't work. Your iPhone knows you don't have the commercial right to take that picture and has denied you.
Of course, the flip-side here involves piracy and the like: someone sitting in a movie theater to film it and bootleg it, or someone taking a picture where photography is prohibited, such as at a museum (or a concert), and so on and so on.
Apple has filed a patent that could help combat the latter, though still hinder the former. That is: a patent that protects intellectual property rights, but treats everyone like a potential pirate, rather than a valued customer."
[Source]
Of course, the flip-side here involves piracy and the like: someone sitting in a movie theater to film it and bootleg it, or someone taking a picture where photography is prohibited, such as at a museum (or a concert), and so on and so on.
Apple has filed a patent that could help combat the latter, though still hinder the former. That is: a patent that protects intellectual property rights, but treats everyone like a potential pirate, rather than a valued customer."
[Source]
"I can understand trying to protect intellectual property, but camera
phones have also been used to capture crimes, police brutality, protests, etc.
Now it could all potentially be blocked out.
Why can't the general public see apple for the evil corporation that it
is...."
"Just wait until something like 'the ugly shirt' comes into
effect.. all phones and cameras programed so that when they see a specific QR
code they just don't record or format the memory card.. obviously these will be
worn on police uniforms or as badges when a govt. operation is in progress.."
5/1/12
833
"I have also heard rumor (from reliable sources) of a device under development by the Chinese government in Beijing, in collaboration with some Western scientists, going by the name of the "head brain instrument" (three Chinese characters). This device uses transcranial magnetic stimulation, and has the dual effects of increasing learning rate, and also increasing susceptibility to suggestion. Interesting. I read an article a few months ago about a different but related device being tested in Australia, using transcranial stimulation to increase creativity. This sort of research seems fascinating and promising. No doubt one could advance even faster and further in this direction using direct brain-computer interfacing, but no one has yet developed an inexpensive and safe method of installing a Neuromancer-style "cranial jack" in the brain, alas. I'm sure the cranial jack is coming, but it's hard to estimate exactly when.
In terms of ongoing and future research, I think that a combination of genomics, experimental evolution and artificial intelligence is fairly shortly going to lead us to a variety of therapies to improve cognitive performance throughout the human lifespan, as well as to extend the healthy human lifespan overall. I'm seeing this now in the work my bioinformatics firm Biomind is doing in collaboration with the biopharma firm Genescient Corp. Genescient has created a set of populations of long-lived fruit flies, which live over 4x as long as control flies, and also display enhanced cognitive capability throughout their lives, including late life. We've gathered gene expression and SNP data from these "superflies" and are using AI technology to analyze the data -- and the results are pretty exciting so far! We've discovered a large number of gene-combinations that are extremely strongly associated with both longevity and neural function, and many of these correspond to likely-looking life-extension and cognitive-enhancement pathways in the human organism. The supplement Stem Cell 100, now on the market, was inspired by this research; but that's just the start ... I think we're going to see a lot of new therapies emerge from this sort of research, including nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, gene therapy, and others."
[SOURCE]
In terms of ongoing and future research, I think that a combination of genomics, experimental evolution and artificial intelligence is fairly shortly going to lead us to a variety of therapies to improve cognitive performance throughout the human lifespan, as well as to extend the healthy human lifespan overall. I'm seeing this now in the work my bioinformatics firm Biomind is doing in collaboration with the biopharma firm Genescient Corp. Genescient has created a set of populations of long-lived fruit flies, which live over 4x as long as control flies, and also display enhanced cognitive capability throughout their lives, including late life. We've gathered gene expression and SNP data from these "superflies" and are using AI technology to analyze the data -- and the results are pretty exciting so far! We've discovered a large number of gene-combinations that are extremely strongly associated with both longevity and neural function, and many of these correspond to likely-looking life-extension and cognitive-enhancement pathways in the human organism. The supplement Stem Cell 100, now on the market, was inspired by this research; but that's just the start ... I think we're going to see a lot of new therapies emerge from this sort of research, including nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, gene therapy, and others."
[SOURCE]
4/30/12
831
"A w-what? SIMEX? What do you mean?"
"In other words: you are single. The stuff about your wife, kids, the affair, and the divorce... it was all a Simulated Experience - a software dream."
Togusa and the Garbage Man, Ghost in the Shell Vol 1
"In other words: you are single. The stuff about your wife, kids, the affair, and the divorce... it was all a Simulated Experience - a software dream."
Togusa and the Garbage Man, Ghost in the Shell Vol 1
4/28/12
829
"CISPA can no longer be called a cybersecurity bill at all. The government would be able to search information it collects under CISPA for the purposes of investigating American citizens with complete immunity from all privacy protections as long as they can claim someone committed a “cybersecurity crime”. Basically it says the 4th Amendment does not apply online, at all. Moreover, the government could do whatever it wants with the data as long as it can claim that someone was in danger of bodily harm, or that children were somehow threatened—again, notwithstanding absolutely any other law that would normally limit the government’s power."
Leigh Beadon
Leigh Beadon
4/9/12
814
"I am not an AI. I am a lifeform spontaneously created from the sea of information."
The Puppeteer, Ghost in the Shell Vol 1
The Puppeteer, Ghost in the Shell Vol 1
3/29/12
794
"Cyberculture is in its infancy. We really *don't* live in an information society, because economics, not infomics or infonomics if you will, is the underlying thread that holds our society together. However, this may be beginning to change, as witness in our reliance on economic credit systems (your credit is just information, which can be hacked) as well as on a political scale the intertwining of political, media, and international-conglomerate businesses as the definite powerhouses. At the turn of the century, it was basically just political forces. Post-WW-II, as postindustrial society developed, it became politics + business which continues to this day, but now media (information power) is a substantial force in the global power game. Rudy Rucker, prominent writer and scientist, is credited with the outstanding motto of cyberculture as a whole -- "How fast are you? How dense?" The phrase should be examined in the context of information processing, individuals dealing wth a world that is transforming and morphing from economics-based to infonomics-based."
3/27/12
791
"The Ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus' paradox is a paradox that raises the question of whether an object which has had all its component parts replaced remains fundamentally the same object.
The paradox was first raised in Greek legend as reported by Plutarch,
"The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned [from Crete] had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."
Plutarch thus questions whether the ship would remain the same if it were entirely replaced, piece by piece. Centuries later, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes introduced a further puzzle, wondering: what would happen if the original planks were gathered up after they were replaced, and used to build a second ship. Which ship, if either, is the original Ship of Theseus?
Another early variation involves a scenario in which Socrates and Plato exchange the parts of their carriages piece by piece until, finally, Socrates's carriage is made up of all the parts of Plato's original carriage and vice versa. The question is presented if or when they exchanged their carriages."
-> The human body constantly creates new cells as old cells die. The average age of non-bone cells in an adult body may be less than 10 years. The body is analogous to Heraclitus' river in that it consumes and expels a steady flow of nutrients, gas and water, all of it processed by cell bodies and enzymes that are themselves destroyed and remade.
-> Ghost in the Shell cyclically returns to this paradox of a "human" whose body is replaced by artificial parts.
The paradox was first raised in Greek legend as reported by Plutarch,
"The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned [from Crete] had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."
Plutarch thus questions whether the ship would remain the same if it were entirely replaced, piece by piece. Centuries later, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes introduced a further puzzle, wondering: what would happen if the original planks were gathered up after they were replaced, and used to build a second ship. Which ship, if either, is the original Ship of Theseus?
Another early variation involves a scenario in which Socrates and Plato exchange the parts of their carriages piece by piece until, finally, Socrates's carriage is made up of all the parts of Plato's original carriage and vice versa. The question is presented if or when they exchanged their carriages."
-> The human body constantly creates new cells as old cells die. The average age of non-bone cells in an adult body may be less than 10 years. The body is analogous to Heraclitus' river in that it consumes and expels a steady flow of nutrients, gas and water, all of it processed by cell bodies and enzymes that are themselves destroyed and remade.
-> Ghost in the Shell cyclically returns to this paradox of a "human" whose body is replaced by artificial parts.
3/22/12
783: Cypherpunk
"Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn't want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doesn't want anybody to know. Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world.
Since we desire privacy, we must ensure that each party to a transaction have knowledge only of that which is directly necessary for that transaction. Since any information can be spoken of, we must ensure that we reveal as little as possible. In most cases personal identity is not salient. When I purchase a magazine at a store and hand cash to the clerk, there is no need to know who I am. When I ask my electronic mail provider to send and receive messages, my provider need not know to whom I am speaking or what I am saying or what others are saying to me; my provider only need know how to get the message there and how much I owe them in fees. When my identity is revealed by the underlying mechanism of the transaction, I have no privacy. I cannot here selectively reveal myself; I must always reveal myself.
Therefore, privacy in an open society requires anonymous transaction systems. Until now, cash has been the primary such system. An anonymous transaction system is not a secret transaction system. An anonymous system empowers individuals to reveal their identity when desired and only when desired; this is the essence of privacy.
Privacy in an open society also requires cryptography. If I say something, I want it heard only by those for whom I intend it. If the content of my speech is available to the world, I have no privacy. To encrypt is to indicate the desire for privacy, and to encrypt with weak cryptography is to indicate not too much desire for privacy. Furthermore, to reveal one's identity with assurance when the default is anonymity requires the cryptographic signature.
We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any. We must come together and create systems which allow anonymous transactions to take place. People have been defending their own privacy for centuries with whispers, darkness, envelopes, closed doors, secret handshakes, and couriers. The technologies of the past did not allow for strong privacy, but electronic technologies do.
We the Cypherpunks are dedicated to building anonymous systems. We are defending our privacy with cryptography, with anonymous mail forwarding systems, with digital signatures, and with electronic money."
Since we desire privacy, we must ensure that each party to a transaction have knowledge only of that which is directly necessary for that transaction. Since any information can be spoken of, we must ensure that we reveal as little as possible. In most cases personal identity is not salient. When I purchase a magazine at a store and hand cash to the clerk, there is no need to know who I am. When I ask my electronic mail provider to send and receive messages, my provider need not know to whom I am speaking or what I am saying or what others are saying to me; my provider only need know how to get the message there and how much I owe them in fees. When my identity is revealed by the underlying mechanism of the transaction, I have no privacy. I cannot here selectively reveal myself; I must always reveal myself.
Therefore, privacy in an open society requires anonymous transaction systems. Until now, cash has been the primary such system. An anonymous transaction system is not a secret transaction system. An anonymous system empowers individuals to reveal their identity when desired and only when desired; this is the essence of privacy.
Privacy in an open society also requires cryptography. If I say something, I want it heard only by those for whom I intend it. If the content of my speech is available to the world, I have no privacy. To encrypt is to indicate the desire for privacy, and to encrypt with weak cryptography is to indicate not too much desire for privacy. Furthermore, to reveal one's identity with assurance when the default is anonymity requires the cryptographic signature.
We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any. We must come together and create systems which allow anonymous transactions to take place. People have been defending their own privacy for centuries with whispers, darkness, envelopes, closed doors, secret handshakes, and couriers. The technologies of the past did not allow for strong privacy, but electronic technologies do.
We the Cypherpunks are dedicated to building anonymous systems. We are defending our privacy with cryptography, with anonymous mail forwarding systems, with digital signatures, and with electronic money."
3/20/12
780
"You people - the physical universe, in other words - are only like sediment... and quantitatively speaking, you're an uncertain existence.
If this were not so both, meaning and unrecorded information could not exist..."
The Puppeteer, GITS Volume 1, Page 335
If this were not so both, meaning and unrecorded information could not exist..."
The Puppeteer, GITS Volume 1, Page 335
779
"What do you want? Do you just want to eat and contribute nothing, to be brainwashed by media trash? To sacrifice the nation's future for your own selfishness?"
"But..that's not what.."
"Listen kid... you've a ghost and a brain... and you can access a cyberbrain.
Create your own future..."
Kusanagi and the Kid, GITS Volume 1, Page 45
"But..that's not what.."
"Listen kid... you've a ghost and a brain... and you can access a cyberbrain.
Create your own future..."
Kusanagi and the Kid, GITS Volume 1, Page 45
778
"AIs with prosthetic bodies probably never experience hunger, sexual desire, desire to sleep or even the desire for honor and glory, unless programmed to do so. If they have any desire it is probably the desire to expand their network or create something or control something. In other words to grow as an information system.
(...)
The definiton of a human is very vague, so when an AI superior to a human is developed, will we really be able to recognize it?"
Masamune Shirow, GITS Volume 1, Notes
(...)
The definiton of a human is very vague, so when an AI superior to a human is developed, will we really be able to recognize it?"
Masamune Shirow, GITS Volume 1, Notes
3/17/12
772
Obama And ISP’s To Launch Largest Digital Spying Scheme In History (Must Read)
If you download potentially copyrighted software, videos or music, your Internet service provider (ISP) has been watching, and they’re coming for you.
Specifically, they’re coming for you on Thursday, July 12.
(The July 12 date was revealed by the RIAA’s CEO and top lobbyist, Cary Sherman, during a publishers’ conference on Wednesday in New York, according to technology publication CNet.)
That’s the date when the nation’s largest ISPs will all voluntarily implement a new anti-piracy plan that will engage network operators in the largest digital spying scheme in history, and see some users’ bandwidth completely cut off until they sign an agreement saying they will not download copyrighted materials.
Word of the start date has been largely kept secret since ISPs announced their plans last June. The deal was brokered by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and coordinated by the Obama Administration. The same groups have weighed in heavily on controversial Internet policies around the world, with similar facilitation by the Obama’s Administration’s State Department.
The content industries calls this scheme a “graduated response” plan, which will see Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and others spying on users’ Internet activities and watching for potential copyright infringement. Users who are “caught” infringing on a creator’s protected work can then be interrupted with a notice that piracy is forbidden by law and carries penalties of up to $150,000 per infringement, requiring the user to click through saying they understand the consequences before bandwidth is restored, and they could still be subject to copyright infringement lawsuits.
This is much worse than SOPA/PIPA and ACTA. It doesn’t necessarily censor the internet but it spys on everything you do. Your ENTIRE web history will be watched and recorded and might even assist the government. This was coordinated by Obama and his administration with the help of the MPAA and RIAA.
What is so dangerous about this is that this is not a law it is a policy adopted by several companies. That means this will not be debated in Congress and you will agree to be spied on by signing a contract with the company.
Internet censorship is becoming a reality and now the corporate elite will legally be able to spy on you. If we spread this and cause an uproar like what we did with SOPA, maybe they will back down. Either way people NEED to know about this.
[Source]
If you download potentially copyrighted software, videos or music, your Internet service provider (ISP) has been watching, and they’re coming for you.
Specifically, they’re coming for you on Thursday, July 12.
(The July 12 date was revealed by the RIAA’s CEO and top lobbyist, Cary Sherman, during a publishers’ conference on Wednesday in New York, according to technology publication CNet.)
That’s the date when the nation’s largest ISPs will all voluntarily implement a new anti-piracy plan that will engage network operators in the largest digital spying scheme in history, and see some users’ bandwidth completely cut off until they sign an agreement saying they will not download copyrighted materials.
Word of the start date has been largely kept secret since ISPs announced their plans last June. The deal was brokered by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and coordinated by the Obama Administration. The same groups have weighed in heavily on controversial Internet policies around the world, with similar facilitation by the Obama’s Administration’s State Department.
The content industries calls this scheme a “graduated response” plan, which will see Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and others spying on users’ Internet activities and watching for potential copyright infringement. Users who are “caught” infringing on a creator’s protected work can then be interrupted with a notice that piracy is forbidden by law and carries penalties of up to $150,000 per infringement, requiring the user to click through saying they understand the consequences before bandwidth is restored, and they could still be subject to copyright infringement lawsuits.
This is much worse than SOPA/PIPA and ACTA. It doesn’t necessarily censor the internet but it spys on everything you do. Your ENTIRE web history will be watched and recorded and might even assist the government. This was coordinated by Obama and his administration with the help of the MPAA and RIAA.
What is so dangerous about this is that this is not a law it is a policy adopted by several companies. That means this will not be debated in Congress and you will agree to be spied on by signing a contract with the company.
Internet censorship is becoming a reality and now the corporate elite will legally be able to spy on you. If we spread this and cause an uproar like what we did with SOPA, maybe they will back down. Either way people NEED to know about this.
[Source]
3/16/12
771
"Are we going to retain the monkey meat or are we going to hang on to the body and through the body have a connection to the rest of animal nature?
Or are we going to become disenbodied streams of electrons moving in virtual realities that are contained entirely in circuitry. I think this probably will go both ways. There will be Fundamentalists who want nothing to do with technological transformation. And there will be Utopians who won't be able to get enough of it.
This is the frontier where we each personally have to take a stand and decide how much of the new technology and its reality redefining qualities do we want to take into our lives.."
Or are we going to become disenbodied streams of electrons moving in virtual realities that are contained entirely in circuitry. I think this probably will go both ways. There will be Fundamentalists who want nothing to do with technological transformation. And there will be Utopians who won't be able to get enough of it.
This is the frontier where we each personally have to take a stand and decide how much of the new technology and its reality redefining qualities do we want to take into our lives.."
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