Update to Fermi's Paradox: Where are the alien computers?

Fractals. I think of those too when I think about the universe. I wonder how can we model the physical processes we observe, the processes of nature, with a mathematical equation or representation? Not too long ago I read about Levy Flight. Google it if you're interested. It's a mathematical pattern, a distribution, that tends to be present in the traveling patterns of many animals and creatures on this earth. We're increasingly learning that our universe might be more like a hologram. That the space around us is giving us the illusion of depth when in reality it's a flat surface, or perhaps one day we'll discover it's a single point. In any case, if you can find the equation behind the processes of nature then you might unravel the deepest mystery of all: what is intelligence? I read an article in discovery recently that covered the "intelligence" of slime mold. Slime mold has no brain. It was the January issue in 2009. Anyway, the slime mold was able to anticipate changes in its environment and react as though it were about to happen and at the appropriate time. Note these can be single cells. It was able to recall temporal changes. It's incredible. The lead experimenter commented that Physarum being capable of this "might be a chance to reconsider what intelligence is." I think it's amazing that these single celled organisms were able to remember when the temperature went down (or up) and were able to anticipate it correctly and when the stressor was removed it eventually learned to resume normal activities.

We should not forget for a single moment that we're just a LOT of cells!

Somewhere between a single cell and a LOT of cells, a human being comes into existence. My opinion is that cells themselves are a set of rules and processes and complex organism are a set of many cells and that the more cells we have the more processes they compute and the answer comes not from some psuedo-spiritual soul but from a multitude of hosts that find the most efficient route to the answer and then spit it out into our conscious mind. The question is, how interconnected is all this? Is it just our body? Just a lot of cells across the universe, or a set of rules and processes that guide them? Maybe the mother of all equations?

We're just a lot of cells. Shouldn't we look at them, not god, for answers? It's logical.

Consider that the average human really would be quite dumb without a 21st century education and technology base to work from. We have millions of years of trial and error to support us. We had to go down roads to nowhere to find the ones that went somewhere. And maybe the same process is going in our own minds, in our own bodies. Now it's taking place in society, in civilization. It's kind of like solving a maze or an equation. An answer that's earned through brute force and simple efficiency testing. Combine memory with the testing and the brute force and...

Originally posted by Tearman

So, I think it is rational to aggressively expand into the cosmos, wiping out all other sources of possible competition, rather than wait around until someone else does it first. (I think this may be related to the prisoner's dilemma.) ... I think once the intelligence on earth is detected, we should see the galaxy wake up all around us in response to this newly discovered threat. We will then be quickly exterminated, before the galaxy goes back to sleep.

edit on 11-6-2011 by Tearman because: (no reason given)

edit on 11-6-2011 by Tearman because: (no reason given)

Ah yes, the famous Berserker Probe theory. Basically, homocidal Bracewell probes are lurking nearby, waiting until they detect signs of a technological singularity event. Then they swoop in and destroy us so that we can't challenge their uber powerful AI masters.

It scares the crap out of me that the answer to Fermi's paradox could be: "It's too quiet"

Originally posted by The Cusp
So my girlfriend is gaining about 5% of her total body weight every month, so does that mean that eventually she'll be bigger than our house?

Dude in 600 years, your girlfriend's going to be the size of the observable universe.

Just sayin'

alien computer AI minds don't exist because the reptoids in collusion with the "dark bringers" have hunted them all down and mercilessly slaughtered and vivisected them,

/thread

Originally posted by darkbooty
reply to post by kristobal

 

I just felt like I must say that Moore's Law will NOT continue. I remember reading an article in the Computer Science building on campus that Gordon Moore said that he regretted coming up with Moore's Law and does not want to be remembered for it. I also remember hearing though I cannot remember where that we will hit a technological plateau, and that the current generation will be frustrated with the lack of advancement while their children will be complacent with it.

Welcome to the forum! Another way of looking at this is that Moore didn't 'invent' the law, he just observed the trend. If he hadn't pointed out the exponential growth of computers, someone else would have. We might be calling it "Henson's Law".

As another poster pointed out, we haven't quite progressed the way Moore initially predicted -- we have moved to multi-core CPUs, for example. Interestingly, engineers are finding ways around technical obstacles to create hardware that has all of the properties needed to keep the curve growing on track. What is driving this? Is it Economics? Price competition among chipmakers? Human curiosity?

Or

Are computers naturally self organizing, like unwitting parasites on the back of human evolution?

That's what Kurzweil thinks, more or less, in his book The Age of Spiritual Machines.

Let's just hope that the computers take humanity along for the ride.

Originally posted by jonnywhite
We all get old. No need to feel ashamed. I watched my grandpa get old and die. I watched my parents become seniors. I watched my mother die. I watch as I age and slowly slip away...

This is brilliant, and so is this thread S&F

This is something I didn't know about: computers have ALREADY reached the capacity of a single human brain. And it happened way back in 2008!

aftercontact.org...

Mind you, this is a super computer. It will probably take until 2020 or so before this amount of computation is available in a $1000 PC. I still find that amazing. How long before a computer suddenly 'wakes up' and starts talking sass back to its NSA handlers?

An excellent thread!! Some really thought provoking stuff.
I used to follow Moores law myself, buying a new pc every 18months to double my processing speed lol!! That stopped a few years ago when chip prices went through the roof. gonna stick with my trusty quad core till someone comes up a with reason why we need these speeds in our home pcs.

I believe it will be a long time before the pace of technology slows down, after all it was tech that made the difference between us and the other hominids.
All the latest research into new materials for chips, quantum computers, using light, I sometimes wonder if we may surpass Moores law one day. Bring on the singularity!!