Post by kyle blake on Jun 13, 2015 18:20:15 GMT
Week 5 & 6
Question 1
Having consciousness allows us to play out a situation in our heads along with their outcomes before we act upon that decision in real life. The ability to do this allows humans to better survive and make wiser decisions by lowering our probability of a negative outcome. By not using or not having a conscience we would make less well-thought-out decisions and the chances of a negative outcome in real life would be a lot greater because of the lack of ability to “process”. We get to pick the decisions we believe will result in our desired real life situation, in our heads, without it having any true effect on the real world. The Virtual Simulation Theory of Consciousness can be explained as one virtually playing out a scenario in their mind and projecting the best decisions they chose mentally to their physical world.
Question 2
The brain is extremely successful in making us believe anything it wishes. For example on the second page of Andrea Diem-Lane's book Cerebral Mirage the Deceptive Nature of Awareness, she adds a quote by Scientific American and it says "We make two types of errors: a type 1 error, or false positive, is believing a pattern is real when it is not; a type 2 error, or false negative, is not believing a pattern is real when it is." And the writer goes on to explain that "if you believe the rustle in the grass is a dangerous predator when it is just the wind (type 1 error), you are more likely to survive than if you believe that the rustle in the grass is just the wind when it is a dangerous predator (a type 2 error)." Those who make type 1 errors are more likely to survive than those who make type 2 errors. Another example of how our brain can trick us for survival purposes can be learned through stories of near death experiences. A lot of people have spiritual experiences during NDE's but the Naturalist camp argues that it has more to do with science and your brain wanting to survive than it does religion. For example a common experience during an NDE is a tunnel with a bright light at the end and an object or figure in the light. A lot of people report seeing a religious figure in the light but there are other stories of people seeing things such as David Lane's student seeing a bike his mom had promised him for his birthday which brought him back to consciousness, or the Indian women who had a bad accident and saw a "large glowing chapatti" at the end of the tunnel making her immediately realize that she was need in the kitchen for lunch duty which brought her back to consciousness after being pronounced dead(pg.19-20).These are two examples of how the brain makes us believe things that are not real to trick us into surviving.
Week 7
Question 1
I believe that it is quite possible for artificial intelligence to be a significant problem in our future. Ray Kurzweil mentions how artificial intelligence has currently done more good than harm, but he also mentions how quickly it has advanced and predicts that by "2020 we'll have computers powerful enough to simulate the human brain". Kurzweil also predicts that technologies will be one million times more powerful by 2029, and a billion times more powerful by 2034. He claims that computers by then will be far more powerful than the human brain, to the point where they're capable of updating their own software design. This reminds of the recently released movie "Ex Machina" where a fully conscious AI robot successfully outsmarts and manipulates her mastermind creator. Unlike beating the Alan Turing test (which I also believe will be successfully passed with ease in the near future, based on Ray Kurzweil's predictions) I think the AI's of the future will pass more sophisticated tests like attempting to identify an AI face to face versus simply chatting through text in a different room as the AI computer. Who knows what they are capable of especially if the AI computer has physical attributes of a human being. The thought of an AI more intelligent than Einstein and as athletic as Olympic athletes seems like a scary thought but it seems that this is where society is headed. Although I am concerned about the future and I'm excited to see how far technology will advance in my lifetime.
Question 2
A way that technology has impacted my life was brought to my attention through the book Digital Philosophy by David Lane, especially chapter 3, titled "The Book is Dead". Lane describes his passion for reading and how he learned to enjoy reading on an iPad. This lead me to analyze the effect my iPad has had on my life and the way I read books. Before if I wanted a book I would save up for it and purchase it, now if I find a book I like at the store I write it down and download a free pdf version online. I prefer reading a physical copy but the free, most times illegal, way of obtaining the book always pulls me in. I know it's a horrible thing to do but being a college student makes it difficult to purchase the amount of books I wish to have.
Week 8
Question 1
As David Lane explains in the video, Faqir Chand: Inner Visions and Running Trains The Enchanted Land Film Series, Fariq Chanda was at war when he and 35 soldiers were outnumbered by their opponents. They battled for some time. Fariq and his fellow soldiers seemed to be winning because they only had one casualty, while their enemies had a large number of deaths. Firing came to a hault, and low on ammunition, the soldiers feared another attack because they would have undoubtedly suffered defeat. At this moment the holy form of Fariq Chanda's guru, Hazur Data Dayal Ji, appeared before him and told him that "the enemy has not come to attack but to take away their dead, let them do that and save your amunation". Fariq told his Subedar Major what he experienced and he listened. The soldiers halted fire and the enemies gathered their deceased, the soldiers were safe. Ammunition was air dropped and battle continued for a few months. Upon returning home to Baghdad, Fariq was greeted by people who claimed to have seen him in their meditations, claiming he was their guru. Fariq had no recollection of any super powers or even appearing in these peoples meditations, but they seemed to believe he was someone to worship because of his direction in saving the soldiers on the battlefield. Fariq concluded that it wasn't him appearing in these people’s experiences, nor was it Hazur Data Dayal Ji revealing himself to Fariq, but it was all mental. The individuals experiencing this were only imagining these things to be true. They were illusions. All visions experienced mentally are created by the person having the vision.
Question 2
The phrase, "philosophy done well is science; philosophy done poorly remains philosophy,” can mean two things to me, either philosophy is no longer required or used as often when something is proven by a science, or it can mean philosophy is successful when a question or theory is proven by science. When something is “proven” by science it tends to not be questioned or when a scientist has a theory and can prove it then he was successful in proving his theory. Philosophy to me is the theory before the facts and the comparison of facts already proven.
Question 1
Having consciousness allows us to play out a situation in our heads along with their outcomes before we act upon that decision in real life. The ability to do this allows humans to better survive and make wiser decisions by lowering our probability of a negative outcome. By not using or not having a conscience we would make less well-thought-out decisions and the chances of a negative outcome in real life would be a lot greater because of the lack of ability to “process”. We get to pick the decisions we believe will result in our desired real life situation, in our heads, without it having any true effect on the real world. The Virtual Simulation Theory of Consciousness can be explained as one virtually playing out a scenario in their mind and projecting the best decisions they chose mentally to their physical world.
Question 2
The brain is extremely successful in making us believe anything it wishes. For example on the second page of Andrea Diem-Lane's book Cerebral Mirage the Deceptive Nature of Awareness, she adds a quote by Scientific American and it says "We make two types of errors: a type 1 error, or false positive, is believing a pattern is real when it is not; a type 2 error, or false negative, is not believing a pattern is real when it is." And the writer goes on to explain that "if you believe the rustle in the grass is a dangerous predator when it is just the wind (type 1 error), you are more likely to survive than if you believe that the rustle in the grass is just the wind when it is a dangerous predator (a type 2 error)." Those who make type 1 errors are more likely to survive than those who make type 2 errors. Another example of how our brain can trick us for survival purposes can be learned through stories of near death experiences. A lot of people have spiritual experiences during NDE's but the Naturalist camp argues that it has more to do with science and your brain wanting to survive than it does religion. For example a common experience during an NDE is a tunnel with a bright light at the end and an object or figure in the light. A lot of people report seeing a religious figure in the light but there are other stories of people seeing things such as David Lane's student seeing a bike his mom had promised him for his birthday which brought him back to consciousness, or the Indian women who had a bad accident and saw a "large glowing chapatti" at the end of the tunnel making her immediately realize that she was need in the kitchen for lunch duty which brought her back to consciousness after being pronounced dead(pg.19-20).These are two examples of how the brain makes us believe things that are not real to trick us into surviving.
Week 7
Question 1
I believe that it is quite possible for artificial intelligence to be a significant problem in our future. Ray Kurzweil mentions how artificial intelligence has currently done more good than harm, but he also mentions how quickly it has advanced and predicts that by "2020 we'll have computers powerful enough to simulate the human brain". Kurzweil also predicts that technologies will be one million times more powerful by 2029, and a billion times more powerful by 2034. He claims that computers by then will be far more powerful than the human brain, to the point where they're capable of updating their own software design. This reminds of the recently released movie "Ex Machina" where a fully conscious AI robot successfully outsmarts and manipulates her mastermind creator. Unlike beating the Alan Turing test (which I also believe will be successfully passed with ease in the near future, based on Ray Kurzweil's predictions) I think the AI's of the future will pass more sophisticated tests like attempting to identify an AI face to face versus simply chatting through text in a different room as the AI computer. Who knows what they are capable of especially if the AI computer has physical attributes of a human being. The thought of an AI more intelligent than Einstein and as athletic as Olympic athletes seems like a scary thought but it seems that this is where society is headed. Although I am concerned about the future and I'm excited to see how far technology will advance in my lifetime.
Question 2
A way that technology has impacted my life was brought to my attention through the book Digital Philosophy by David Lane, especially chapter 3, titled "The Book is Dead". Lane describes his passion for reading and how he learned to enjoy reading on an iPad. This lead me to analyze the effect my iPad has had on my life and the way I read books. Before if I wanted a book I would save up for it and purchase it, now if I find a book I like at the store I write it down and download a free pdf version online. I prefer reading a physical copy but the free, most times illegal, way of obtaining the book always pulls me in. I know it's a horrible thing to do but being a college student makes it difficult to purchase the amount of books I wish to have.
Week 8
Question 1
As David Lane explains in the video, Faqir Chand: Inner Visions and Running Trains The Enchanted Land Film Series, Fariq Chanda was at war when he and 35 soldiers were outnumbered by their opponents. They battled for some time. Fariq and his fellow soldiers seemed to be winning because they only had one casualty, while their enemies had a large number of deaths. Firing came to a hault, and low on ammunition, the soldiers feared another attack because they would have undoubtedly suffered defeat. At this moment the holy form of Fariq Chanda's guru, Hazur Data Dayal Ji, appeared before him and told him that "the enemy has not come to attack but to take away their dead, let them do that and save your amunation". Fariq told his Subedar Major what he experienced and he listened. The soldiers halted fire and the enemies gathered their deceased, the soldiers were safe. Ammunition was air dropped and battle continued for a few months. Upon returning home to Baghdad, Fariq was greeted by people who claimed to have seen him in their meditations, claiming he was their guru. Fariq had no recollection of any super powers or even appearing in these peoples meditations, but they seemed to believe he was someone to worship because of his direction in saving the soldiers on the battlefield. Fariq concluded that it wasn't him appearing in these people’s experiences, nor was it Hazur Data Dayal Ji revealing himself to Fariq, but it was all mental. The individuals experiencing this were only imagining these things to be true. They were illusions. All visions experienced mentally are created by the person having the vision.
Question 2
The phrase, "philosophy done well is science; philosophy done poorly remains philosophy,” can mean two things to me, either philosophy is no longer required or used as often when something is proven by a science, or it can mean philosophy is successful when a question or theory is proven by science. When something is “proven” by science it tends to not be questioned or when a scientist has a theory and can prove it then he was successful in proving his theory. Philosophy to me is the theory before the facts and the comparison of facts already proven.