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 Irreducible: Consciousness, Life, Computers, and Human Nature. Federico Faggin: 2024 John Hunt Publishing

23 Jan

COMPUTERS AND HUMAN NATURE

On Human Nature vs. Machines: “Man is not a machine; he is a spiritual being, expressing a depth of consciousness and emotion that transcends mere mechanical function.”

On the Danger of Misconception: “The idea that classical computers can become smarter than human beings is a dangerous fantasy. It is dangerous because if we accept this notion, we will inherently limit ourselves to expressing only a very small fraction of who we are, reducing the rich tapestry of human experience to mere computations.”

On Consciousness and Quantum Systems: “We are not even close to computers in terms of understanding the complexities of consciousness. While comparisons are often drawn, the reality is that the brain functions on an entirely different level. We are quantum systems, embodying a depth and intricacy that far surpasses that of artificial constructs.

On Free Will: “Humanity stands at a significant crossroads. Either it chooses to return to the belief that it holds a fundamentally different nature than machines, or it risks being reduced to a mere machine among machines, losing the essence of what it means to be human.”

On Meaning and Understanding: “A computer ‘knows without knowing that it knows,’ highlighting a crucial distinction. It processes symbols without genuine understanding; there is no witness, no pause for reflection, and no self that engages in true comprehension of its actions or outputs.”

On the Limitations of AI: “AI cannot truly be empathic. The notion of ’empathic robots’ being developed to care for the elderly is overly simplistic and naive. Such claims fail to recognize the profound human capacity for empathy, which cannot be replicated through programmed responses or algorithms.”

 

Everything belongs to an infinite Whole

18 Jan

I became aware that we’re all connected. This was not only every person and living creature, but the interwoven unification felt as though it were expanding outward to include everything in the universe- every human, animal, plant, insect, mountain, sea, inanimate object, and the cosmos. I realized that the entire universe is alive and infused with consciousness, encompassing all of life and nature. Everything belongs to an infinite Whole. I was intricately, inseparably immersed with all of life. We’re all facets of that unity- we’re all One, and each of us has an effect on the collective Whole.  

Anita Moorjani

Dying to Become Me, 2012 Hay House, LLC

Perceptual Relativity and the Observer Dependent Universe

6 Jan

Reality appears to consist of a vast number, possibly an infinite number, of sensory worlds.
Each person has their own individual world. This is the world they perceive which is always different
from the world perceived by others. Variations exist from person to person due to each person
occupying different points in time and space and due to the quality of the individual person’s sense
organs. Each species has its own world due to the tendency for members of each species to have the
same sense organs which will tend to function in a similar way within each member of the species.
There seems to be no good reason for favoring any one of these sensory worlds over any other of
them. It seems impossible to claim that the human view of the world has any special claim to validity
when an alteration of our senses will give us different sense perceptions. How can you say what you
perceive is, when the same thing can be perceived with different sense organs and it can be something
quite different? If the human view was to be preferred it would be no more than a case of a human
centric view of the world that is not capable of any real justification.

Rochelle Forrester

The Term Ecology

24 Dec

The term Ecology, as used locally, does not have the connotation of the “environment” as used in America, There is no separation of man and his environment; rather there is a fusion of man and his environment. Ecology represents the study of the ecological entity as a whole. When a given ecological complex appears unfavorable from the standpoint of man, for example, he does not have a prior claim to adjustment on the part of the other elemen (ts of the complex. The others have just as much “right” to demand modification of his behavior as he has on theirs. All are one in Nature. The appreciation of this Oneness and the delicate interrelationships of its diffusions represents the prime academic purpose of the Ecology Series. (The Land of Keikitran and Eleevan) R.G.H. Siu

Science becomes the story that our civilization tells itself.

24 Dec

Science becomes the story that our civilization tells itself. It is a story about the universe, but told in such a way that it supports and gives credence to all that our society holds of value- analysis, prediction, technology, the accumulation of wealth and knowledge, the desire for control, progress, the need for closure and wrapping things up. Science adds credibility to our cultural dream by supporting it a seemingly objective way. We must also remember that other cultures tell different stories. It is a new form of cultural imperialism to claim that the stories of other cultures are no more than myths that must be corrected, exposed for their naiveté, or ‘make more scientific.’ Rather they should be respected, for they represent different possible glances at the universe and different ways of structuring knowledge. The danger arises when a culture takes its own story as the absolute truth and seeks to impose this truth on others as the yardstick for all knowledge and belief. F. David Peat

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Dangerous Delusion…

25 Nov