The Future is Coming: Part 1

I’ve decided to start a series on what the future has in store for us. I will admit that many of the technologies that I will talk about will have deep ramifications on society and security. We cannot shy away from these technologies, as that would show a de-evolution. We must mature and grow with these technologies, and develop them in the public eye. For if we don’t, these technologies could be developed in the wrong hands. Its as they say “The future ain’t what it used to be”. I would like to give credit to the following people who have done extensive work and research on these topics, of which I have been devoutly reading as much as I can.
Robert Freitas jr, Ralph Merkle, Martine Rothblatt, Terry Grossman, Tomaso Poggio, Dean Kamen, Hans Moravec, Max More, Sherry Turkle, Damien Broderick, Eric Drexler, Marvin Minksy, Ray Kurzweil, Michael Anissimov, Mark Miller, and Steven Block.

The evolution of the universe.

“Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world”-Arthur Schopenhauer

“First we make the tools, And then they make us”- Marshall McLuhan

“When the first transhuman intelligence is created and launches itself into recursive self improve, A fundamental discontinuity is likely to occur, the likes of which I cant even begin to imagine”-Michael Anissimov

“You know, things are going to be different!…. NO, NO, I mean REALLY DIFFERENT”
-Mark Miller

The 6 stages of the universe-

As we all know, evolution is a process that creates patterns of increasing order. Evolution did NOT start when the first life inhabited the universe. Evolution Started at the very beginning of the universe with the complexification of INFORMATION. Starting with a sea of pure energy at the beginning, the contents of the universe have continuously been folding in on themselves, creating higher orders of patterns. Each successive stage of evolution is built upon the foundations created by the previous stage. Which means, we use the tools we have NOW to create tomorrow. And then we use tomorrows tools to create the next day. The following outlines what is theorized as the 6 major stages of evolution in the universe. Watch for the increasing levels of complexity, and how each level builds the base for the next.

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1.PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY - INFORMATION IN ATOMIC STRUCTURES

In the beginning of the universe, chemistry was the dominating force. Information was encoded In what we call atomic structures. Once the universe became cool enough, electrons started to get stuck within orbits around nuclei of protons and neutrons. Once electrons started to join the group, these structures became “sticky” due to their electrical (+ | -) nature. At this point the universe was composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, the 2 most basic and abundant structures in the universe. Once enough H|HE started to group together and collapse into planetary bodies, we had something new in the universe called Stars(let there be light) Thanks to the new process of fusion, taking place at the center of these stars, the universe started to pump out new and more exciting elements, most importantly CARBON! Carbon is the most versatile and most responsible element for the creation of life. Carbon, having 4 bonding sites allowed for the creation more sophisticated 3 dimensional structures.


2. BIOLOGY - INFORMATION IN DNA

Starting several billion years ago, carbon-based compounds became more and more present in the universe. Eventually, complex aggregation of molecules formed SELF-REPLICATING mechanism. Most scientist agree this is when/where “life” started. Eventually, these systems evolved a “digital” method to store information (DNA). Its machinery, Codons and ribosomes, allowed a record to be kept of all types of evolutionary experiments.


3. BRAINS - INFORMATION IN NEURAL NETWORKS

Eventually, DNA guided evolution (stage 2) produced organisms that can detect information with their own sensory organs. This information was processed and used to organize the brain and nervous system. The vast majority of information gathered was recognizing Patterns, which is still one of the main functions of our brain today. To recognize patterns in the external world. Eventually a species evolved that had a new capability. The ability to create abstract mental models of the world in our mind. This gives us the ability to redesign the world around us.



[edit on 12/3/2009 by VonDoomen]

[edit on 12/3/2009 by VonDoomen]

[edit on 12/3/2009 by VonDoomen]

4. TECHNOLOGY - INFORMATION IN HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE - HUMANS PERFECT TECHNOLOGY

Combining our ability to create mental models with our opposable thumbs, humans created the next stage: human-created technology. This of course started out with simple mechanisms and has evolved to into highly sophisticated self automated machines. At this point we really start to see evolution speeding up. Consider this, Mammals have added roughly one cubic inch of brain matter per 100,000 years. On the other side, Computer related technology has been doubling in capability roughly every 18 months! This represents an exponential rate of increase. 2 Billion years from the origin of life (self replicating mechanisms) to cells VS. roughly 14 years from the PC to the WWW.


5. THE MERGER OF HUMAN TECHNOLOGY AND INTELLIGENCE - TECHNOLOGY PERFECTS HUMANS

Right now we are somewhere between the 4th and 5th stages of evolution. We are already seeing technology being incorporated into our body in basic forms (artificial limbs, pacemakers, mechanical organs). But the REAL change will start to happen when technology starts to merge and work with our Nervous system. We will have the vast knowledge of all human history embedded into our brains with vastly greater speed, capacity, and information sharing ability. Of course, this will also greatly increase our ability to act destructively.
WARNING: proceed with caution.


6. THE UNIVERSE BECOMES AWARE - THE UNIVERSE BECOMES SATURATED WITH INTELLIGENCE

EVERYDAY, there is MORE intelligent matter on the planet, and less unintelligent matter on the planet. The same will happen with space, once mankind has mastered Space travel. We will spread out into the universe, converting unintelligent raw matter, into matter saturated with intelligence, that is consciously and intelligently organized matter with a purpose, interacting with humans. This is the ultimate destiny of the universe. The universe will “awaken” as a giant intelligent system.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d1800bce9726.jpg[/atsimg]

*Notice that this graph is set up in a logarithmic scale. Although it LOOKS linear, it represents an exponential curve.

Let an ultra-intelligent machine be defines as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultra-intelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an "intelligence explosion", and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultra-intelligent machine is the last invention that man ever need make. -Irving John Good

[edit on 12/3/2009 by VonDoomen]

[edit on 12/3/2009 by VonDoomen]

reply to post by VonDoomen


Star, Flag and a reply for you, which is rare for me. I often don't indulge in threads, mostly because most I see are just personal attacks on one another with close minded opinions.

However I do enjoy the occasional thread that looks beyond the fear-pornography portrayed to us daily. It seems as if the end is around every corner yet from what I can personally tell; not only is the current power structure falling into pieces but a better tomorrow is being set before us each day.



We're reaching new heights above and beyond the fear and to new limits not even definable.

I'll add some technology that will be paving the way to a brighter future.

www.hplusmagazine.com...

Animated and programmable LED tattoos connected to your brain? You could show off your latest Flash animations, watch TV on your arm, or have a built-in PDA screen. The possibilities are endless. Perhaps more than simply a fashion statement, you could use such LED tattoos to display medical information about your body such as blood-sugar readings. A recent article in MIT Technology Review describes a new type of super-thin silicon transistor that can be embedded on a dissolvable silk-based film and can do all of that.

www.computerworld.com...

By the year 2020, you won't need a keyboard and mouse to control your computer, say Intel Corp. researchers. Instead, users will open documents and surf the Web using nothing more than their brain waves.

And

The scientists say the plan is not a scene from a sci-fi movie -- Big Brother won't be planting chips in your brain against your will.

www.powercastco.com...

True Wireless Power Powercast’s products deliver true wireless power for continuous charging and power-over-distance for one or multiple devices. Enable your device to become finally untethered

Ths i

Excellent post VD.

If the Universe becomes self aware, I wonder what it will ponder?

We are the weals of the robots system.

We become the technology we use.

But "they" (some, the corporate economy) does'nt need us, at least they need us to obey : so more control for them is good : and technology means control.

We are all living already in a brave new world.

But this could be a lot worse.

Industrial Society and Its Future

SO think about your family, and your child. And choose well , the destiny of your humanity.




[edit on 4-12-2009 by psychederic]

s&f ...this is a great post.

reply to post by andrewsymonds


Thanks mate!
look out for part 2 of this series in the very near future, hopefully before the weekend is out.

Another thing I would like to point out is how people "predict" the future of technological advancement.

People in general tend to forecast the future in a linear method.

thinking that we will be using the same quality of technology we have now for far to long into the future.

The biggest impact IT have is the raw data crunching power. the better our IT power, the faster we can compute through potential possibilities. We build new techs, and use that tech to build even better tech, and its an exponential process.