What I've been reading: 2008-06-30

• Spanish parliament approves 'human rights' for apes (Guardian)
  Great apes should have the right to life and freedom, according to a resolution passed in the Spanish parliament, in what could become landmark legislation to enshrine human rights for chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos.
• The Science of Humour (More Intelligent Life)
  Apes do it.
• Should we care why people give to charity?(Peter Singer)
  Public displays of philanthropy are often frowned upon. But should we care what motivates the giver?

The art of William Scott (1913-1989)

Beans on a plate with mushrooms

Study for Still Life

Still Life With Orange Note

Tasty abstract minimalism and still life. More about William Scott.

What I've been reading: 2008-06-11

• The Genetics of Fear (Henry Greely)
  Sci-fi fantasies about the risks of genetic engineering can't get in the way of life-saving research. A response to Jamie Metzl.
• Top Pentagon Scientists Fear Brain-Modified Foes (Wired)
  There's concern in some corners of the U.S. military about "enemy activities in sleep research," neuro-pharmaceutical performance enhancement, and "brain-computer interfaces."
• Amputees fight caps in coverage for prosthetics (USA Today)
  There is a nationwide fight by amputees and the prosthetics industry to get the states and Congress to require fuller coverage for artificial limbs. The insurance industry is fighting the effort, saying such mandates drive up costs and reduce the flexibil
• Triumph of the Pill (Reason Magazine)
  Why brain doping on campus is no cause for concern

What I've been reading: 2008-06-09

• This Global Show Must Go On (Tyler Cowen - NYT)
  The last 20 years have brought the world more trade, more globalization and more economic growth than in any previous such period in history. Few commentators had believed that such a rise in trade and living standards was possible so quickly.
• How Do We Intelligently Discuss Politicized Geoengineering? (WorldChanging)
  Ever since I wrote about my support for a ban on geoengineering research, I've found myself more involved in a debate about geoengineering, climate science and politics than I anticipated being.
• Paralympics 2.0 (Andy Miah)
  Oscar Pistorius was right all along, at least for now. He was right to appeal the ruling from the International Association of Athletics Federations that forbade him from competing alongside Olympians in Beijing for one simple reason: he is an Olympian.
• The Top Ten Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems (Ronald Bailey)
  The final dispatch from the 2008 Copenhagen Consensus Conference.
• Military Supercomputer Surpasses Petaflop Milestone (NYT)
  An American military supercomputer, assembled from components originally designed for video game machines, has reached a long-sought-after computing milestone by processing more than 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second.
• Using Sci-Fi to Change the World (Analee Newitz)
  Science fiction isn't escapist; it can help us envision how to make the world a better place.

The art of Fred Harper

Fred Harper's website.

What I've been reading: 2008-06-04

• EU urged to review animal testing (BBC)
  A world expert on primates, Dr Jane Goodall, has urged Europe to find alternatives to experiments on animals.
• Study suggests holding in one's feelings is not harmful after all (Machines Like Us)
  Contrary to popular notions about what is normal or healthy, new research has found that it is okay not to express one's thoughts and feelings after experiencing a collective trauma, such as a school shooting or terrorist attack.
• Futurist Ray Kurzweil Sees a Revolution Fueled by IT (NYT)
  Do you have trouble sticking to a diet? Have patience. Within 10 years, Dr. Kurzweil explained, there will be a drug that lets you eat whatever you want without gaining weight.
• Aliens get a new switchboard: a SETI radio telescope in Northern California (LAT)
  An array at Hat Creek near Mt. Shasta points an ear to the cosmos. If E.T. tries to phone on any of 10 billion channels, Earth will be ready to listen.
• The day of judgment (Guardian Books)
  End-time thinking - the belief in a world purified by catastrophe - could once be dismissed as a harmless remnant of a more superstitious age. But with the rise of religious fundamentalism, prophets of apocalypse have become a new and very real danger, ar

Warren Ellis: Singularity 'indivisible from religious faith'

Science fiction author Warren Ellis has written a short and typically trite blog post about what he calls The NerdGod Delusion -- an attack against those who make the case for a technological Singularity:

The Singularity is the last trench of the religious impulse in the technocratic community. The Singularity has been denigrated as "The Rapture For Nerds," and not without cause. It’s pretty much indivisible from the religious faith in describing the desire to be saved by something that isn’t there (or even the desire to be destroyed by something that isn’t there) and throws off no evidence of its ever intending to exist. It’s a new faith for people who think they’re otherwise much too evolved to believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster or any other idiot back-brain cult you care to suggest.

Vernor Vinge, the originator of the term, is a scientist and novelist, and occupies an almost unique space. After all, the only other sf writer I can think of who invented a religion that is also a science-fiction fantasy is L Ron Hubbard.

Wow, sounds like Warren has some special knowledge of his own. I certainly hope that, aside from this vacuous and inflammatory post, that he'll begin to share some of his expert views into AI theory and the potential for machine minds.

With the bold claim that there is "no evidence" to support the suggestion that SAI is engineerable, I'll have to assume that he's engaged the principle thinkers on the matter and offered sufficient critique to dismiss their findings outright -- thinkers like Eliezer Yudkowsky, Ben Goertzel, Hugo de Garis, and the many others devoted to the problem.

Otherwise, why should we take Ellis seriously? Or are we expected to take his position on mere faith alone?

The day is coming, my friends, when Singularity denial will seem as outrageous and irresponsible as the denial of anthropogenic global warming. And I think the comparison is fair; environmentalists are often chastised for their "religious-like" convictions and concern. It's easy to mock the Chicken Littles of the world.

And like the foot-dragging on climate change, there are consequences to inaction. The bogus and unfair memetic linkage between millenarian beliefs and the Singularity is a dangerous one, and the sooner this association is severed the better.

As I see it, there are four strategies to help us normalize the Singularity debate:

(1) We need to better promote and engage respected thinkers and public intellectuals who are sympathetic to the issue -- key figures like Ray Kurzweil, Robin Hanson, Nick Bostrom, Marvin Minsky, etc.

(2) A new generation of public figures is required -- renowned individuals who are willing to a) put their reputations at stake and b) use their popularity/credibility to raise awareness and help with foresight.

(3) Continue to frame the issue as a scientific endeavor and pitch the various scenarios as hypotheses; we need to keep the language within the scientific vernacular.

(4) Let the critics have it and show them no quarter. Particularly when their denial is mere contradiction and driven by sheer incredulity. We need to force them to better articulate their positions while defending our own with as much evidence can be mustered.

And in the meantime, don't buy into Ellis's empty anti-Singularity rhetoric, which is all that it really is.

What I've been reading: 2008-06-02

• What Does It Mean to Be Human? (Wired)
  A star-studded panel of scientists gathered to discuss those heady themes last night at the World Science Festival in New York City. Here are their answers in convenient nutshell form:
• IEEE Spectrum: Special Report: The Singularity
• IEEE Spectrum: Economics Of The Singularity (Robin Hanson)
  This is part of IEEE Spectrum's SPECIAL REPORT: THE SINGULARITY
• Caring or cruel? Inside the primate laboratory (The Guardian)
  The Guardian, given rare access to an animal research facility, talks to scientists about their experiments on monkeys.

What I've been reading: 2008-06-01

• SCREECH (More Intelligent Life)
  Ferrari is putting carbon-ceramic brakes in all its cars. Paul Markillie goes from 160kph to zero in four seconds flat ...
• Bayesian theory in New Scientist (Reverendbayes's Weblog)
  Is this a unified theory of the brain?
• Space particles play with the mind (New Scientist)
  IT'S hardly unusual to find things flashing into your head as you fall asleep, but as Christer Fuglesang was settling down on his first night aboard the International Space Station it happened quite literally.
• A Computer That Can 'Read' Your Mind (NSF)
  Research team's work with brain scans and computational modeling an important breakthrough in understanding the brain and developing new computational tools