Paradox Point

     The Price of AI   I speculate that we will figure out how to write an AI that simulates human intelligence, but only after science definitively proves that human intelligence itself is a simulation. The proof will require precise documentation of the simulation’s tricks. That’s the normal course of science: wisdom and wealth but only after humiliation.    

Ten Prescriptions   No murder. No perjury. No stealing. No slavery. No rape. No torture. Honor and protect your parents, children, and spouse. Take a day off work once a week. Do to others what you would have them do to you. Seek no control over another’s thoughts or speech.   Note that ‘murder’ is illegal killing and ‘perjury’ is lying in court. You can still swat flies, eat animals, and shoot at invading soldiers; and you can still flatter your boss and your spouse. These prescriptions take human nature into account.           “Do to others” is partly a prescription, but also partly a diagnosis. We do treat others as we treat ourselves, and vice versa. We can’t help it, we’re social animals.           “Seek no control” is the most modern and liberal of these prescriptions.           Suggestions for changing thi...

                 Why Truth?   Letter to friends and family, on Monday, November 20, 2017:   On this, my 60th birthday, I ask your indulgence to consider a dangerous philosophical question: Why truth? - and related questions:   Why justice? Why honor? Why honesty? Why integrity?   - and so on. Why not their opposites: falsehood, tyranny, dishonor, lies and corruption? I am not arguing in favor of those opposites; I shall leave that to Mr. Trump and his gang of dupes, collaborators and crooks. I am for truth, justice, honor, honesty and integrity, but I’d like to hear some reasons why. I question truth because I love it. Trump and his gang have plenty of reasons for the lies that they love; though in truth those reasons are not reason; they are madness; for “why reason?” is another question in play here. Why reason? Why not madness? Truth, justice, etc. all support each other; they argue fo...

          Who is the Shipbuilder?           Contra Plato             One of the main conceits of Plato’s dialogues is “the one who knows”, and who therefore should rule. He put this doctrine in the mouth of Socrates; an unlikely location, given Socrates’ disbelief that anyone knows anything – except of course Socrates, who at least knew that he knew nothing.           Though Socrates himself did not think himself the one who knows, some of his friends thought that of themselves; particularly Alcibiades the treasonous narcissist, and Critias the ruthless tyrant. They thought they should rule; but neither proved worthy to the task.           But who is the one who knows? Let us specify matters to clarify the question. Therefore imagine a ship being built, in some ancient G...

          The Limits of the Miraculous     Given a large enough sample size, improbable events are statistically likely. This plus the human mind’s tendency to read meaning into events makes inevitable the sporadic outbreak of the seemingly miraculous.   But the trouble with miracles is that the people demand two opposite things from them. A miracle must be uncommon, but it must also be reliable. A ritual that rarely works is of little value to the believer; but one that always works is no miracle at all. Any sufficiently reproducible magic is indistinguishable from technology.   In John Brunner’s fantasy novel, “The Traveler in Black”, the title character wryly noted that the sorcerers of his world are caught in a dilemma. Their spells are powered by chaos; but they must organize those spells to make use of them, and thus destroy the very chaos that gives them power.   So too with miracles. If the w...

          Pride’s Pravda   The difference between belief and Belief equals the difference between truth and Truth, which equals the difference between pravda and Pravda. The latter is for things called ‘faiths’, but which I call ‘Prides’, as in ‘mortal sin’ and ‘pack of apex feline predators’. Every religious faith tends to become a Pride, and every nationalism, and every ideology. It can be hard to tell the difference between a faith and a Pride. One rule of thumb is that a faith can laugh at itself, but a Pride dare not. Capital-B Belief in the Truth of one’s Pride makes sense, in a Stockholm-syndrome way. But it’s wise to leaven your heartfelt loyalty to your Pride’s Pravda with a bit of prudent hypocrisy, just in case the inevitable collapse happens on your watch.