For Monk: How Does Immortality Fit With Religion

[Q3210]

Re: For Monk: How Does Immortality Fit With Religion

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: monk</div><div class="ubbcode-body">there are advanced computer systems right now that do not require human involvement.

evolution predicts that &quot;created&quot; will become more complicated- not necessarily, but usually- and that is pretty much what we see all the time. Life evolved beyond single cell organisms, in essence single cell organisms 'created' more complicated forms of life. </div></div>

Asexual computer production? Where did they get that God-given/ Darwin principled gift of live cell formation?

[johnnycakes]

Re: For Monk: How Does Immortality Fit With Religion

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: monk</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: johnnycakes</div><div class="ubbcode-body">


Monk,
Quite a thought there.

Of course we atheists have always said that man created God and not the other way around which accounts for all the foolishness in the Bible of required sacrifices and prayers to God, the justification of slavery and child mutilation etc: all things that I would never attribute to a supreme intelligence.
</div></div>

yes but agnosticism would allow for there to be a slight wrinkle to the obvious prediction that man created God- I mean we have system after system of created Gods that man- as a general term- now knows were basically made up. An original God could have been just such a post singularity being, a kernal of truth, just that Man mythologized the concept as is our wont.

such a being, provided it were benevolent and we have alot of information to say that post singularity beings would <span style="font-style: italic">probably</span> be benevolent, would be morally and ethically worthy of love and adoration of its lessers, if not direct worship- although it would not desire worship or adoration that is not relevant from the standpoint of the worshippers. </div></div>



Monk,

I could see where a very advanced super intelligence who provided peace and all else needed by the people of the world would be regarded as a god by PRIMITIVES but not likely by similarly advanced human beings who have grown up with the developing super intelligence for whom the benefits would be greatly appreciated (or perhaps and unlikely, taken for granted ) but not considered miraculous or magic: those things upon which religion has always relied.


I would hope that in our near and more intelligent future there wouldn't be much demand for replacing one false God with another.

That said, if that super-intelligence leans toward helping everyone in their every need and care as would a benevolent loving parent, I could grant it a bit of prayer.

&quot;Thanks S-I for the great bag of weed. Amen&quot;

[rudemonk]

Re: For Monk: How Does Immortality Fit With Religion

and a lot less traffic:

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Seemingly not content with merely driving our Internet searches – ongoing plans for world dominance aside – online titan Google has developed a revolutionary artificial intelligence that's capable of driving our automobiles without human input.
According to Google, its automated cars have been successfully driven by trained operators from the company's Mountain View campus through to its Santa Monica offices on Hollywood Boulevard.
They've also been driven across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, along the Pacific Coast Highway, and even all the way around Lake Tahoe for a total of 140,000 miles in what it calls “a first for robotics research.”
“Our automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors, and a laser range finder to 'see' other traffic, as well as detailed maps which we collect using manually driven vehicles to navigate the road ahead,” Google explained in an official blog post.
“This is all made possible by Google's data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain,” it added.
Google has created its automated vehicle technology alongside engineering talent plucked from the prestigious Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Challenges.
While the prospect of cars navigating busy streets without a physical driver might put the frighteners up some readers, Google has been quick to point out that each car always has someone behind the wheel while a software-monitoring operator sits in the passenger seat.
Testing of the technology platform, which Google claims will cut down on commuting time and reduce accident rates by 50 percent, presently includes a conventionally controlled journey along prospective routes during which time the on-board camera software maps recognisable features.
Google's automated fleet of cars currently consists of six modified versions of Toyota's iconic Prius and Audi's sporty TT coupe. The experimental technology is not expected to be ready for mass production for several years.</div></div>

http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php...ing-automobiles

[johnnycakes]

Re: For Monk: How Does Immortality Fit With Religion

Monk,
I must have read of a future with cars controlled by a massive in-ground wireless computer where you punch in your destination and then go do something else because the car then drives itself to your destination. It merges in a super efficient way and never has to jam on the brakes or swerve to avoid a careless driver because there not only won't be any bad drivers, there won't be ANY human drivers.


Either no accidents or certainly a fraction of the accidents we have and a big cut in the time as traffic flows with computer precision.

I assume that by then we'll be running on the new hydrogen fueled vehicles.
( I believe there has been a recent hydrate breakthrough that will allow for a very efficient storage of hard-to-compress but relatively inexpensive hydrogen making hydrogen fueled engines far more attractive and with hydrogen gas , gas stations won't have to radically redesign and outfit the old gas stations to stay in business selling hydrogen.)

I'll have to check this out. I think it was on NPR's Science Friday .


BTW,
Had lunch with an old co-worker who was into computers and the technology thing and we got to talking about the Singularity and Ray Kurzweil and he said that as far as he was concerned, Kurzweil's predictions are right on the money and he too stressed the exponential nature of the expansion as the factor that so many cannot wrap their heads around being locked into intuitive linear thinking.
My old friend said that he happened to know another techie very knowledgeable in technological advances who also felt the same about Kurzweil and his projections.



I think this is all very reminiscent of that first ride on the old roller coaster with the little car creeping up the long slow incline to get to that peak and after that all hell breaks loose as you go on the most hair raising ride you'd had up until that point in your life.

We are creeping up that track to the Singularity and I would advise everyone to be strapped in there mentally and intellectually when we get there.