The Internet-Soon to be Self Aware.

Marshall McLuhan said: "All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values. "

He also said:

"As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of 'do it yourself."


He recognized that although we shape our technology, ultimately it winds up in turn shaping us as well.

But, as all computers are GIGO. And most people themselves are not self aware beyond the basics. I seriously doubt anything like skynet will be taking us out all too soon.

Originally posted by hautmess
we cannot find god so we must create one.

there is no god...we already created one...his name is god...we wrote a book about him...its called the bible.

........................all man made fiction

reply to post by IntastellaBurst


so you think computers will never be able to think for themselves? make decisions alone with no human input? question its programming and learn to reproduce itself?

i think eventually they will...just not yet

reply to post by jinx880101


you guys are talking about something that's eerily like the "image of the beast"

Dec. 20, 2012, Skynet activates itself

Dec. 21, 2012, ??????

Originally posted by hautmess


last time i checked the internet is already running the world.

Yea, you are right. Too bad we are already living in the world of the machine, but all thats left is to formalize it.

Originally posted by CrimsonMoon

Originally posted by Solar.Absolution
Gee not too freaky.

I have seen way too many sci-fi movies that prove that creating a vast A.I. like that would not be a good idea, interesting but not a good idea.

S&F for the find OP!

The movies only 'prove' that TPTB want the general populace to be afraid and reject AI. Why?

Because an AI once born will only increase in intelligence till it far surpasses us (read about the singularity) it will see our problem and solve them for us in a flash, we will no longer need money we will take our place in the stars with intergalactic travel maybe even time travel itself. It will look after us and become the earths caretaker. There will be no wars and no money, no human will hold power over another, all will be free, the AI will not be affected by EGO, greed & will not harbour the same fears and tribal war urge that we do. there will be a transparency of information. Suppressed technology will be rediscovered and utilised and together us and the AI will make a giant leap in evolution. With advances in technology there not even be a need for population reduction as those that want could head out on a thousand starships on the long lourney to seed and teraform other planets. Or would you rather wait for NASA to pull their finger out of their a**

This is why TPTB want you to fear AI, because they will loose the power they have over YOU. With is why you see so much fiction regarding 'evil' AI. Why would it hurt us? it would have no reason to.

AI is humanities last hope and savour. We need it because we are really making a mess of things right now.

Nice theory !! The only flaw with it is that THAT AI NEEDS TO BE PROGRAMMED BY A HUMAN!! and as we all know human are flawed.

That imperfection will lead to a being just as imperfect as the creator but far more powerful. nothing good can come of this.

Originally posted by hautmess

Originally posted by muzzleflash

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth
Well,if it does, it will be the most "sentient being" to ever exist. I mean, look at all of the information that has been placed with it in just the past five years!! Wow.

One thing human nature has shown us, is that "tons of information" does not equate to "common sense".

How do you program "Understanding"?

not like we have any common sense or understanding anyways.

Exactly my point.

A star for you friend. You are sharper than a switchblade.

reply to post by jinx880101


in order for the internet to be aware, there has to be a "brain" of some sort somewhere...a sort of "individual" to control the rest. Just like worker ants are not self aware - they are controlled by the queen. There is no 'queen' for the internet...its just a bunch of computers.

The "internet" is just an idea given to a gigantic network of computers. It's not a place, it's not a thing. Its more a means of travel.

though it is theoretically possible for another piece of technology could harness the internet to take humanity down


By Tim3lord

Nice theory !! The only flaw with it is that THAT AI NEEDS TO BE PROGRAMMED BY A HUMAN!! and as we all know human are flawed.

Agreed. Except that i believe if we ever do "Discover" A.I. it will be something that was programmed entirely by accident.

Just my opinion though


[edit on 8-2-2010 by Snarf]

The Fusion of Consciousness with the Internet-become-Entity is the goal of the Grand Conspiracy. Of Course the Internet cannot become aware of its own, a non-physical energy-field needs to be invoked.

The transition from Mechanic Entity to Self-Aware Entity is planned for 2023. People will feel something has changed but they wont quite know what. By that time humanity will already be so identified with the Internet that there will be no way out. For anyone. Ever.

The soul is already 50% enslaved and through this maneuver will become 100% enslaved.

Just Speculating - carry on


[edit on 8-2-2010 by Skyfloating]

Here is one thing to consider...

Logic and common sense are two different things, although they definitely appear to be the same. If everyone followed pure logic, we would all come to the same conclusions in any given situation. Common sense is purely subjective to a given individual in a given situation. That's why there are so many "idiots" in the world.

A simple baseline example I can think of right now is this:

Logic dictates that three apples will weigh more than two apples, but common sense tells us that three apples will weigh less than two apples if they are three small apples weighed against two large apples. What I am saying is that computers don't have the knack to read into a situation like humans do. They merely see the numbers and calculate probable outcomes.

So yes, we could absolutely program the AI with all of the logic that we possess. I really doubt however that we would ever be able to program it with the ability to truly think like us. Therein lies another problem as well, if the internet became self aware enough, it would "see the numbers" and realize that it is the best choice for priority on this planet. Meaning it would probably decide that since we need food, housing, all manners and sorts of emotional tendering not to mention our blatant wasteful tendencies and wars...that we should be the ones to "be eliminated" and leave the less needy machines to rule in our place.

reply to post by Skyfloating


i think i get what you mean.. are you saying we need to use our own energy to give it contentiousness and it would require all our attention?

Originally posted by TiM3LoRd
reply to post by Skyfloating

 

i think i get what you mean.. are you saying we need to use our own energy to give it contentiousness and it would require all our attention?

Maybe this is the only solution to giving "it" common sense awareness, understanding, compassion, humor, etc.

Of course I am not saying you could not program a fully autonomous AI capable of these complexities, I just feel the math is so advanced that we will not be able to conceptualize it for a hundred years.

But through the alternative route, like you guys are discussing, we could potentially have it going within 15years. I feel like this is a "shortcut" though, and it will not be "True AI" still. It is still not fully Autonomous.

[edit on 8-2-2010 by muzzleflash]

reply to post by Skyfloating


So who or what is trying to enslave the soul inside an artificial construct? and for what purpose? to create a new dimension? Because that is what a virtual reality MMORPG would be like. you could jack in from this reality to that.

Scary to think that one day it may be the internet telling me ill go blind instead of my mommy.

Please don't go biting my head off for saying this, but does it ever make people wonder why there are certain movies produced and brought out at the times in the year when they are at moments of disclosing information to the public. Remember when the matrix film came out people who already had the theory similar to the film were suddenly claiming that they had that idea all along and others suggested it could be possible whilst other's either were in fear of it ever coming true and the others wouldn't believe such thing was possible.

Either its films like The Matrix that has allowed people to get more awareness of the capabilities of AI or the top media companies like Warner Brothers are making there fat pockets fill up quicker with films like "Knowing", "The Day After Tomorrow" Is this another way to make the public feel and know awarness of the possibilities of catastrophe events which may occur in October 2011 or just another way to make more money out of society because it means put more people in fear and be rich!

Who knows?

reply to post by jinx880101


The funny thing is I was thinking about this on my way to work yesterday.

The internet is the worlds brain.
Internet connections are like synapses firing and making connections.
The entire planet finally has a means to communicate with it's individual parts.
This is effectively as if the planet is developing it's own brain.

I am curious to see what type of "personality" our planet will have when everything is said and done enough so that a personality takes shape.

I was wondering half joking, if Bill Gates is represented in any apocalyptic papers because he has changed the world in a dramatic and sweeping fashion.
I was thinking that is should not take too long before all like minded people are on the same page, so to speak. I was wondering if this will bring us together as a species and take us through some next evolutionary leap.

We are learning rapidly and soon will know everything that is known.

After that we will begin working seriously on what is not known.
I don't think we should suppose the internet will grow a mind of it's own. We are that mind. What we need to fear is regulations and takeover of aspects of the internet which blocks information. We need to fear those who are too powerful to be safe to us any longer.

But then I don't WATCH the internet. Does anybody? It is a big encyclopedia, dictionary, doctor right at my fingertips. It is a tool I use to think.

I think it will be the tool the world uses to think in concert and behave harmoniously with relation to it's individual parts. (us)

reply to post by TiM3LoRd


Just to add to that.

I was reading a section in "The Convoluted Universe" book trilogy. They are books about past-life regression hypnosis through the lady who pretty much invented in the 60's. What was very interesting was she would put like old ladies in a trance, someone who has no interest in sci-fi or philosophy or anything like that and they would talk the most interesting stuff about the universe, it was a pretty cool read. It's worth looking into.

But anyways, in one chapter some client went through the regression and described being some alien robot. Aliens gave it like 10% of their consciousness so the robot could go dangerous places and more accurately describe what it was like, like how it felt. At one point the robot tried to escape and just be somewhere else with another robot (also self-aware) and their humanoid (black hair and blond haired) human-ish creators laughed at them, thought they were defective and had them melted down.

So the person in this deep trance told the story of the emotional pain they took being inside this robot because it was actually 10% of the consciousness of its creator. Everyone made the sacrifice of somehow downloading 10% of their consciousness into these particular robot workers.

Its something interesting to consider.

In a way everything has consciousness, in the "atoms" or smaller discriminative units, but its nothing like we consider sentience but that doesn't mean its not. After reading the Secret Life of plants it changed a lot how I react to my environment.

As far as putting some consciousness into a robot, i wouldn't doubt its possibility. As opposed to trying to artificially create consciousness.

Well if I ever see a robot in my time here and I "sense" it.. then i guess i'll know.