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Neo
Posted: Friday, March 21, 2008 9:29:25 PM
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Wow, first post in a whole forum, what a buzz! This whole area interests me greatly, but I have no clear topic as such - I just wanted the first post:d/

On a more topical note, the whole question of meaning springs to mind i.e. do our lives have any intrinsic meaning if we are living in a simulation? So, hope that gets the ball rolling here!

P.S. Yay, 1st post!:d/

There is no spoon.
jim
Posted: Saturday, March 22, 2008 9:56:52 AM

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congrats on the first post! plus, you grabbed the best user name. Applause

i think that as long as we believe that we are more than machines, our lives have meaning.
stendec
Posted: Friday, April 11, 2008 3:47:10 PM

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Great question to start the ball rolling, Neo. Congrats on being the first poster!

This is only my third posting on the whole forum (but the first in this section!)

At the risk of sounding like a cliché, I think our lives have meaning if - and only if - we give them meaning. This would be true whether we are living in a simulation of "reality", or it in reality itself. I would say that "this" is reality because we are real to ourselves and those we interact with.

I believe that our inter-relationships are as "real" whether they are conducted across cyberspace, "real" space, or within a simulated cyberspace within a simulated real-space (if that makes sense).

Because we are conscious thinking self-aware beings, I think that it doesn't matter where "home" is, whether it is in a simulation or not.

And to answer your point Jim, I believe that we are indeed "machines" of a sort, albeit biological ones. But that we are much, much greater than the sum our parts. In a similar way that, if / when we build AI that is at least as smart as us, that AI will become more than the sum of its parts too, and transcend the limitations of its own parts. So, we can have meaning, I believe, even if we consider ourselves to be machines.

What do you guys think?
jim
Posted: Friday, April 11, 2008 7:43:24 PM

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totally agree with the lives having meaning regardless of the nature of reality.

and i agree that an AI can become more than the sum of its parts. just think of the ease with which an AI could absorb information, without all of the filters that our wetware has.

but... i still believe that AI will never have free will or consciousness in the sense that we do. this is where i depart from the transhumanists. i guess i've just read too many convincing OBE stories. Angel
stendec
Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2008 3:06:32 AM

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Hi Jim, I think I'll keep an open mind about the possibility of AI having consciousness in the same way that we have self-awareness.
I tend to go towards the belief that once a "critical mass" of neurons (or whatever the electronic equivalent may be) is reached, then consciousness becomes inevitable.

It remains to be seen if this is so. If not, then it is very possible we may have the "Terminator" scenario, where AI sees itself as superior, and learns all about the way we go about our affairs - wars, violence etc- and applies this back to us. A frightening thought.

Interesting you mention OBEs I used to have these as a kid, quite frequently, but then they stopped. It would be pretty cool if the AIs we build also have "displaced locality" of some sort, and report OBEs and also phenomenon such as Remote-Viewings. No doubt the military would use them to their own ends. Which then leads to the question of whether AI would have free will and a conscience

Like you say, maybe our "wetware" has advantages we don't yet know about when it comes to consciousness. Was it Roger Penrose that postulated that the "micro-tubules" in the human brain may have some kind of quantum interactive properties? This would go towards explaining such "non-locality" experiences as OBEs and remote-viewing.

These subjects are just sooo fascinating.
Neo
Posted: Sunday, April 13, 2008 5:40:45 PM
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stendec wrote:
Great question to start the ball rolling, Neo. Congrats on being the first poster!


Thanks. I thought it was a great start too, but I may be a little biased Whistle. Let's hope more peeps join up and make this interesting. Any ideas on how we could do that?

There is no spoon.
jdlaw
Posted: Sunday, April 13, 2008 8:44:03 PM

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There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy ...
Neo
Posted: Saturday, April 3, 2010 6:10:59 PM
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This is our forums first thread, with yours truly kicking things off on Easter Saturday 2 years ago, so belated happy birthday forum, and good tidings to all who sail on her.Applause

There is no spoon.
jim
Posted: Sunday, April 4, 2010 1:07:21 PM

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Happy Birthday, Universe-Solved! Forum and thanks to all who have contributed!

Special thanks to Neo for being the first contributor and still active after all this time!

sambuca
Posted: Monday, April 5, 2010 8:05:22 AM
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what does everyone mean "meaning" ? do you mean meaning as meant to mean the meaning that meaning implies to mean as some sort of meaningful worthy accomplishments in a lifetime or meaning to mean anything other than the meaning of meaning as generally understood to mean which could mean whatever meaning one wants to mean --i mean--whether life has any meaning means most to those who mean to have meaning in a meaningful way --anyway--life could have meaning without meaning to have any meaning if you know what i mean--d'oh!
Neo
Posted: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 9:15:13 PM
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Thank you Jim, but lets not forget about all those other members who've joined recently..you know - the shy onesDrool (any progress sorting that out?). And of course hats off to sambuca, our resident riddler.


I meant that.

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sambuca
Posted: Thursday, April 8, 2010 7:32:34 AM
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LOL! neo-- as usual from your "comebacks"---Applause
Neo
Posted: Friday, April 22, 2011 5:14:53 PM
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Another Easter Saturday, another anniversary; congrats usApplause

There is no spoon.
Neo
Posted: Saturday, April 19, 2014 2:04:08 PM
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Happy 6th Birthday - us (Easter Saturday again).



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EKUMA1981
Posted: Sunday, April 20, 2014 6:09:53 AM

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY to The Universe - Solved!
Neo
Posted: Friday, April 3, 2015 4:07:55 PM
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Another Easter Saturday, another anniversary (I like going by Easter Saturday, no harm celebratring twiceWhistle ); congrats usApplause

There is no spoon.
Neo
Posted: Friday, March 25, 2016 5:51:02 PM
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Another Easter Saturday, another "Universe Solved" birthday of sorts. Hurray us!Applause

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Neo
Posted: Friday, April 14, 2017 6:39:42 PM
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Happy 9th Birthday (sort of), us.

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jim
Posted: Monday, July 3, 2017 3:25:48 PM

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Thanks Neo. So cool that you remember the anniversary. Next year is the big one!
Neo
Posted: Saturday, March 31, 2018 11:39:25 AM
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And a decade (+) it is Applause Hope things are going well on here.

There is no spoon.
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