Re: Zen singularity

From: Jef Allbright (jef@jefallbright.net)
Date: Sun Feb 22 2004 - 09:58:32 MST


entropy@farviolet.com wrote:
> Sometimes I wonder if the reason we don't see singularity bubbles
> currently, is that they may all reach a similar conclusion:
>
> "The universe is perfect as it is"
>
> An engineered being might possibly never experience suffering, and
> never experience the need to change the universe to suit them. Perhaps
> there is a fairly effective barrier to expansion created by the ability
> to think? The cosmos may be full of beings who have stopped expanding,
> and are happy to watch nature take its course.

I agree with the philosophical perspective that the "universe is perfect
as it is" but take that a step further and add "at this moment".
Indeed, how could it be otherwise?

Zen Buddhism is about acceptance of reality, and recognition that we
cause ourselves suffering when we try to be in discord with reality, but
Zen is not about non-progress.

I think you are making a very good point, that with rising intelligence,
our goals are likely to change, and that boundless physical expansion as
a primary goal may be seen as a simple relic of our evolutionary
programming, easily changed at a higher level of awareness.

At the same time, I think a more fundamental form of growth, in
complexity, will continue to underlie goal systems as far into the
future as I can imagine.

Yes, there is a correspondence between complexity and the necessary
physical substrate that eventually reaches its limit, but considering
the vast interstellar distances and energy requirements, it seems to me
that there will be a substantial period of local development before
needing to turn outward with megascale engineering, and I suspect that
before that point, the rules of the game may change beyond our our
current capability to imagine.

- Jef



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