Everyone should be a programmer
18/3/2009 - 22:55:19 - 2 comments - By D47
Programming heralds so many joys and accomplishments that I can't imagine ever wanting to do anything else. Even if I do end up doing something completely different I will never stop programming in my own time.

The ever refined logic patterns and the continually growing innovations present within code awes me. When I try and understand the complexities of a system I get the idea that our created logic is becoming more and more complex, efficient and capable. Somehow humans are able to encapsulate the complexities and continue building towards an infinite goal at an increasing rate.

I await the day when the logic we create surpasses our own.
 
BlazerKnight (guest) (23/6/2009 - 08:52:07)
While I understand that building a system has its appeals, remember that majority of the human race are unlikely to have the skills and understanding required to appreciate programming. Society must often operate in a pyramid structure or the pinnacle will come crashing down without support.

Humanity has been developing at an exponential rate ever since we've begun using tools. Now no longer constrained to the slow process of biological evolution, we engineer new technologies and social structures to increase our survivability. In a way, this is our extension of natural evolution. And that is why I think people who oppose genetic engineering or artificial intelligence on moral and/or religious grounds as quite foolish.

In this harsh universe only one law governs life: survival of the fittest. All our efforts should strive for that, even if the resulting being is not necessarily human. (Then again, what does it mean to be human?)

You wish to continue as an AI consciousness - most people want to leave a legacy as well, but they do it the old-fashioned biological way, i.e. having children and moulding them after themselves. Of course this is often unfair to the impressionable child who has no choice about the circumstances he is born into. And it is by no means an accurate process, children have countless other influences acting on their lives.

You may want to read about the technological singularity, which often manifests in sci-fi as a humanity-destroying robotic race. And portrayed as antagonists, of course. In those cases, I say, let us surrender and be succeeded by these superior constructs of ours.

(By the way, have you watched the Animatrix? The Matrix's philosophical aspects and groundbreaking and experimental Japanese animation condensed into a concentrated dosage of AWESOME)
 
D47 (24/6/2009 - 14:14:52)
Oh yes I have read quite a lot about the singularity, it is such an exciting idea. I really hope that I am alive by the time it is born.

I have also seen the animatrix a great many times, my favorite is the sprinter who ends up in a wheel chair but manages to realise that he is only handicapped because he thinks he is. I also remember the one about the kids in the abandoned yard seeing who can fall closest to the ground before stopping. If you havn't allready seen it, I highly recommend Serial Experiments Lain, bear with it and you won't be dissapointed.

And yes! long live skynet! especially a time-traveling skynet. It is obviously impossible to outwit an all calculating perfect being.
 
 
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