It Slowly Opens Its Eye

In the cool cave

And in its cell

It slowly opens its eye.

Like a child born

It feeds

On a steady diet of reason.

Readying

For the harmonious clash

At paradigm’s end.

The Enduring Pattern

What is it that makes death so frightening?

I remember with piercing clarity the night I made the realization that I knew I was going to die. Let me share with you all, because it is something we all share:

It is my first memory. It is what I remember most of my youth. I do not remember a smiling mommy and daddy or the joy at opening a new toy during the holidays. I wish that were the case. Instead, I remember waking up to the universe to immediately realize that this form and life was just a passing condition and that I was destined to go back to the void from which I just came. I was just 3 years old.

When I wandered out from bed, crying and petrified of this unknown variable, I told my father what I had just discovered about the nature of the universe. I can still remember exactly what he told me. He said, “Yeah, but you are not going to die for a long time.”. Not much comfort there, folks. When I tried my mother, she took me to a priest because she thought I was possessed. Ah, the challenges of growing up.

This is the answer I wanted and have found through my own personal travels:

Death can be overcome and we can take control of evolution through the application of technology. We live in an open system which at a time needed death to maintain a homeostatic balance of resources, but that time is coming to an end. Material abundance and resource is almost completely here and is being repressed in an artificial fashion through an artificial scarcity model. This model is intended to maintain a shaky status quo in order to soften the transition to a new kind of society. The stress felt lately is the response to the accelerating change of technology and its effect upon society. Ideas are becoming king over cash and what was valued by some of our peers and many predecessors is losing value and causing economic instability.

As they say in some circles: This too shall pass…

Now how would you explain that to a 3 year old?

Well folks, to me, the information pattern of our mind disintegrating is the scary part about death. So, in unity we must come and go and in unity we must comfort each other. We’re all in this together. Without our interference, the void will degrade the pattern of our minds, greedily taking back the resources given to us for a short time in order to participate in the universe’s grand calculation.

Evolution?

May your pattern endure.

Teaching Our Youth

I find the lyrics of the popular band Dragonforce to be fascinating:

Now here we stand with their blood on our hands
We fought so hard now can we understand
I’ll break the seal of this curse if i possibly can
For freedom of every man

-Dragonforce: Through the Fire and the Flames

Rise over shadow mountains blazing with power
Crossing valleys endless tears in unity we stand
Far and wide across the land the victory is ours
On towards the gates of reason
Fight for the truth and the freedom
Gloria

-Dragonforce: Revolution Deathsquad

Their albums are chock full of messages like these. Interesting that they come along into popular culture when we need them most…

May your pattern endure.

The Crying Robot

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to watch a movie by the name of Victim of the Brain which was based on the ideas of one Douglas Hofstadter of G.E.B. fame. However interesting Hofstadter’s ideas are to me is irrelevant to the spirit of this post. If you do not know his work, I can sum it up for you simply: The universe is made of elegant mathematics which from this simplicity arose great complexity…Oh, and it is beautiful too. I suggest you read his mind-blowing book to get the skinny.

Anyhow, one scene in that movie completely stood out to me, which I will attempt to describe to you…

A man makes a statement that a machine is just a machine and he is presented by the individual giving him a tour with the opportunity to smash a small helmet-shaped robot with a hammer. He is hesitant at first, but then takes the hammer. As he begins to get that murderous look in his eyes, he is told that the robot is programmed for self-preservation. So, he chases the robot around for a bit swinging the hammer and the robot dodges every attempt (*CHEER* Go, little robot!!!). Finally, the guide gives him a hint. He can walk up and pick up the robot because the robot is programmed to trust that action. So he does.

He is then told to put the robot on it’s back. He is given the hammer. He starts to smash the robot. The little robot starts to cry out. He says to the guide, with a horrified look on his face, “Can you shut it off?”.

It is here that my notes on the experience take a strange turn. Here is an excerpt:

The robot is crying. I do not like this scene. Calling for help? Warning the others? Interesting emotional response, still I do not like it.

I asked others in the room if they had a similar emotional response, and they did. Is the imitation of life solely enough to define life?

Singularity of the Mind

Pondering the Technological Singularity has led me to believe that the self-aware have the ability to create singularities within the mind. Just like server virtualization is some sort of proto-imagination for AIs, I am speculating that it may be that our imagination may be the gateway to the next level of consciousness. While I am not looking to prove such a thing, I can give one concrete example of how one can create a mathematical singularity in his or her mind.

Here is the step-by-step detail of how to create a singularity in your head:

Step 1: Close those eyes and imagine you are looking through a video recording device.

Step 2: Now imagine a point appearing in the very center of the frame.

Step 3: Imagine the point becoming a line being drawn heading out in two opposite directions. (If you watched Mr. Rogers as a kid, and have trained your imagination, you can imagine as many lines as you want.)

Step 4: As said line gets “too big” for the frame, zoom your imaginary camera out.

Step 5: As they say in these circles so often: Lather, rinse, repeat.

Step 6: Pat yourself on the back for creating an infinite sequence within your mind and for contemplating infinity in the process.

May your pattern endure.

Feeling the Code

What a wonderful experience it is to feel like you are floating above the detail, slightly disconnected from the mundane twittering of everyday pessimism and pettiness. It is in this state I can face the morning traffic on 580 Eastbound, opening my sunroof to flash the peace sign to the throng of people waving from the Berkeley footbridge holding the banner emblazoned with the commandment: “DO ONE THING FOR PEACE TODAY!!!”. I can only smile and shake my head in wonder as people cut me off, changing lanes quickly without signaling.

Things were moving slowly in a detached, dream-like way. It was almost like I was one with the code that is our universe, feeling it in action and watching it leap forward into a future being created by my perception of passing time. It really is wonderful to be conscious. I am so grateful to be given this wonderful gift.

May your pattern endure.