Toward a Mythos of Extropy

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Here is a tangible example of the brain as a sort of sensory computer geared for survival.

10:07 - 10:17


Other segments of this course show experiments involving a dot of light strafing across a visual field, and the pertinent neurons firing (that rapid clicky noise). Some fire when the dot/stimulus moves horizontally, some fire when it moves vertically, some fire when the previous two fire simultaneously, some fire when a line of light moves in certain directions but don't fire when dots do, etc.

And you can see how complex visual computations can be made in combination of these baser computations. In the case of the grasshopper, this particular visual stimulation is somehow linked to the motor function of hopping away, seeing as this visual stimulation approximates a nearing object.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
And really thats just one sense. Factor in the circuitous complexity of the other senses, plus those of the more purely cognitive mechanisms, and one can start to appreciate the breathtaking intricacy of our own wetware.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
What are the dangers of mythologizing humans into a sort of mythic canon, a secular pantheon of trailblazers, curated for maximal cultural impact?

What are the prospects of a rotating pantheon? Figures highlighted to compliment the tone of today, in some respect?

Unified, but diverse, a proper pantheon, like the mythos more widely, ought to inspire.

Naturally I can conjure up endless dead europeans, considering I developed in the intellectual tradition I did, but a proper lineup ought to walk the progressive talk, in terms of diversity. If science does stand to gain what I think it does from diversity, then this shouldn't be a problem.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Perhaps there is a sort of naturally rotating pantheon that emerges, if you analyze the citations across academia and science, seeing who comes up where and how much. Certain figures may come into prominence as their work gets more attention, is recognized properly, etc.

A more pure reflection of socially-defined relevance, rather then someone just decided what figures are important to a given people.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
How does this relate to the thermal evolution of the universe, or the mythology thereof?

A supermall aesthetic for extropy? I'm not sold @luka.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Primordial Particle Systems seem to shed a light on the emergence of differentiated and organized matter/energy.


Now I suppose the task is to up the computational ante in terms of sophistication and energy consumption, to more realistically simulate chemical soup, maybe the construction of amino acids, and by extension nucleotides and nucleic acids.

Not sure where we are, in terms of simulations that yield actionable predictions, how much energy such a robustly parameterized simulation would cost, etc.

This video shows aggregates of generic particles, I guess? Maybe they have different weights represented by different colors? In any case it would seem much, much less complex than our observable thermodynamic reality.

Aggregates shown here are on the order of what, maybe a couple hundred particles? Imagine simulated aggregates on the order of trillions of particles, wherein each particle is itself an aggregate of baser particles.

Instead of there being a beltway-crust of generic particles serving as a membrane for a given aggregate, we may simulate phospholipids to form micelles and lipid bi-layers, actually observable phenomena in molecular biology.

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LinearInferiorKingsnake-max-1mb.gif

You can have receptors lodged in these membranes that can facilitate the importation of proto-nutrients and other such molecules that are not endogenous to the cell, i.e. not produced within the cell.

This, to me, shows how much progress we have left to be made in terms of complex systems simulation, how insatiable a demand there will continue to be for greater computational power, etc.

Also an aesthetic and conceptual basis for consciousness to better apprehend extropy, get an intuition for how complex structures can "spontaneously" emerge from an initial parameterized field.

Because of the vast combinatoric potential for molecular and macromolecular structure, there is accordingly a vast potential for local speciation of realized structure.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
39115221895_98bfe3594b_o.gif
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
More differentiation would seem to entail more potential for complex interactions, i.e. interference, which would seem to entail an expedited further differentiation.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
With exponentially greater computational capacity, we can model exponentially more complex systems, such as origins of life amino acid formation, maybe the formation of particles into brain matter, etc.

None of this seems new though, rather I'm just catching up.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
This is the stuff of proper extropian revelation. A maelstrom of energy agnostic to the predicate affairs of consciousness.

tumblr_opgtduk7iJ1qlbryoo1_500.gifv
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
And yet, amino acids, carbohydrates and phosphate groups form and assemble into nucleic acids, and by extension codify life as we know it.

Makes the suffering on this planet seem infinitesimal, yet somehow all the more profound.
 
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