Sunday, February 20, 2011

How to Contribute

So what if someone had the wish to help shape the future that is our fate? How can one partake in the many processes that lead to the singularity? These questions are of high importance to me, for I wish not to stand by idly and watch, I want to guard and nourish this process and protect it from bad influences.

This wish quickly led me to the natural sciences, most of all physics, and philosophy. But soon only thinking about the wonderful transformations of the future was not enough anymore and I turned outwards to spread this idea among my friends and family. This blog is just another way of doing my best to get the idea out and make people understand the mind-boggling implications of the future. I also hope to find like-minded people who have given the issues I address here some thought and want to get more specific in fleshing out a possible way to a secure and equal singularity.

At first, becoming a scientist seemed the only possible way to contribute anything helpful. But now I'm not so sure of that anymore. In the past months, the idea of supporting progress indirectly became increasingly appealing to me. In the society of today, where everything revolves around the golden calf of short-term profits, it is of enormous importance to direct a reasonible amount of resources to long-term research and development of alternative concepts of organizing human life. The scientists on the 'front line', AI-researchers, nano-engineers and such, desperately lack the funds they need for their very important tasks. Technological progress is delayed by narrow-minded fundamentalists, corporate interests and political hindrances every day and I think it is very important to have a counterweight of serene scientific reason that supports important processes even if the ever-changing public opinion is temporarily against them.

So in general I am talking about an institution, even better a whole network of institutions that dedicate their attention to the scientific exploration of the future and the careful preparation of it's arrival. There are already a few of these, such as the Singularity Institute, the Singularity University and the Foresight Institute. I highly appreciate these organizations and think they are very important. But I would also like to see a kind of 'grass-roots' movement, though that seems pretty unlikely given the very scientific nature of the goals and ideas of the Singularitarian mind-set. Nevertheless it seems important to me to try and raise awareness of the scientific conclusions about the future.

The point of this whole summation of thoughts is to maybe light a spark of interest for the future in some of you. If I achieve this goal, I hope these ideas will be multiplied by the need to tell other people around you of the importance of these ideas, to pass on the spark and help the future happen.

All hail Intelligence!

12 comments:

  1. The future will happen... wether we want this or not...

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  2. Man, I really like the cut of your jib! We are at a precipice right now. And the world seems more concerned if Paris Hilton is wearing undies than the INCREDIBLE advances science is making on a now daily basis. Yes, all hail Intelligence indeed! We need more folks with voices like yours saying that, my friend!

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  3. having an objective view on things differs us from animals! all hail intelligence!

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  4. Is one of those links a place where, rather than publishing data in a scientific journal, scientists actually just make videos showing their findings? I saw something about that once, but I don't remember what it was called. The future is going to be insane, man. Ideas spread like wildfire.

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  5. i couldnt agree more with the first paragraph more.

    the problem is what people do at that point to make a change is the difference

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  6. Hm very interesting.. never really thought of the future like this. Following!

    Follow me at
    http://finallytwenty-one.blogspot.com/

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  7. I have dabbed in some physics and philosophy myself.


    essentially physics is a branch of science which is actaully a branch of philosophy

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  8. I really appreciate your post and also share many of your concerns. In a parallel universe, maybe where my parents didn't leave any wiggle + play room, I would've been a scientist. It was my best subject and I think the research is the most interesting out of all the other academic subjects. But in this universe I pursued architecture, painting + music. I believe that artistic creativity will be the co-movement that can progress without mega institution funding and i think tied together with philosophy, science and art will shed light on many universal truths.

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  9. Thanks for another great post, intelligence and reason should be the driving force into the future rather than mindless capitalism

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  10. intelligence is the answer to all dude

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