| Supergoal: Apotheosis |
| Note: This paper is partially a personal manifesto, and partially also of a preliminary progressive guideline of direction for those depressed about the "pointlessness of it all". Contents: 1: What is the Apotheosis? 1.1: Prospects in Realizing and Achieving the Apotheosis 1.1.1: Subjective Perfection 1.1.2: Religious Transcension/Ascension 1.1.3: Consciousness and Intelligence Enhancement 2: The Singularity: A Integral Direction 2.1: Technologies Feasible for Initiating the Singularity 2.1.1: Uploading 2.1.1.1: Is It Really Me? 2.1.2: AI (Artificial Intelligence) 2.1.3: Nanotechnology 2.2: Elimination of Existential Risks 2.3: Other Reasons for the Singularity 2.3.1: Immortality 2.3.2: True Equality 2.3.3: The Endless Party 2.3.4: Exploration and Discovery 2.4: Organizations and Websites Related to the Singularity 3: What now? 3.1: Yeah, But What If We Just Can't Get There Yo? Motivation: About five years ago, I began questioning my faith of Christianity. I wasn't necessarily conscious that was what I was doing, but I would ask my mom, "If God knows everything and can do anything, then isn't he responsible for sin?" From age twelve to fifteen (I'm nearly seventeen, as of September 27, 2002 I will be), I had evolved from a humble Christian to an arrogant agnostic. From there I realized there was nothing to be arrogant for. Thinking such, I quickly spiraled down to become a depressed nihilist, who ultimately came close to suicide. I didn't like the notion my consciousness was a limited being based on deterministic laws. I would lie on my bed. Just laying there, grieving the grand directionlessness in my life. Where was I going? Why was I living? What was the damn point of it all? At the height of my existential angst (mid-June of 2002), my net surfing (probably the number one reason for my enlightened state of today) led me to something that has warped the goals of my life more than any other implicating idea. I had finally understood a true direction in my life. What direction be that yo? 1. What is the Apotheosis? I'm sure many people have suffered depression by realizing almost nothing man throws in your face; there's a void within your being. A void because you have no real discernible reason for being here: No ultimate goal that seems to have any ultimate purpose. It appears no matter what man has thought of, such has always been inherently still pointless in the end. A puddle of primordial muck eventually evolved to produce sentience and civilization. We've waged wars, revolutionized societies, explored the solar system, and broke new ground in science and technology. We elect presidents, eat breakfast, graduate from college, and have kids, but what is the point of all this? What exactly are we striving for? Where is all of this progress by humanity pointing to? Why are we trying to improve? If you haven't noticed, the question "What's the point?" can be applied to virtually any action or state conceivable. As with virtually all society, people work within the framework of their own intuitive grasp of the world. But when we find ourselves on the other side of the looking glass regarding something, we by and large try to tell others about such. And such is the crack in the conceptual foundation of universal pointlessness. It is assumed we understand completely that everything is ultimately pointless; there is no "other side of the looking glass". "Any action or state conceivable" indicates what you can understand and imagine. All too much depression stems from the belief that things aren't going improve. How can things get better from everything seeming universally pointless? Is there another side of the looking glass that we can look through corresponding to the negative all-encompassing pointlessness? Imagine having the understanding of an ant in comparison to a human. If you were an ant, concepts humanly conceivable would be far, far beyond your grasp. Now picture being a being much intellectually greater than any human to have ever existed. Wouldn't concepts obvious to you as this superhuman being be relatively alien to humans? What would such an understanding be like? It's beyond our imagination, literally. Intelligence beyond our own would understand the world more succinctly and would probably be more efficient in achieving any of its goals. An association amid having superhuman intelligence and "universal pointlessness" exists. At such a superhuman state, increased comprehension of the aspects of "universal pointlessness" is plausible and could help us see through it depressing qualities, if there really is any. Not simply going to college and learning more, but quantitatively enhancing our understanding of the world greater than any human to have ever existed. The Apotheosis is when we have reached a fulfilling understanding of the facets of existence and achieved the optimal state of existence. A time when all this "pointlessness" is set aside or blown out of the water for something else; something not comprehensible and/or discernible to us as of now. A possible "other side of the looking glass" of universal pointlessness, if you will. That's how things can get better. Is there really a way, though, to do such? How can we enhance ourselves to possibly reach such, even if there is such? 1.1 Prospects for Realizing and Achieving the Apotheosis These three major and general ways (admittedly, the only ways I've currently reasoned) are what I would expect most people to suggest. Distinctly it should be understood that in reaching the Apotheosis we should be pragmatic, rational, and, most of all, I quote nanotechnologist Drexler, "keep the level of cultishness and bullshit down." 1.1.1 Subjective/Relative Perfection "But it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst ...and then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life." -- Kevin Spacey, "American Beauty" It seems almost obvious that perfection is a subjective state, determined by individuals. I do not know whether the Apotheosis is subjective, or objective. It could very well be neither. Perhaps it could even be a fusion of the two! Or you could say the Apotheosis is something greater than perfection. Who knows? To state our current postulate that the Apotheosis is subjective and leave it at that is rather arrogant and pretentious, considering our limited intelligence. The best assumption of the Apotheosis is its supreme desirability. 1.1.2 Religious Transcension/Ascension This is perhaps the most popular pick of the three. Generally, religions convey an end result of 'great' good. Christianity posits a Heaven of sorts for eternal fellowship with their 'all-good' creator. Buddhism suggests an "Enlightenment", where all becomes clear. The problem with this view is that virtually all religion's mental impact can be minimized with rational thought of about the romantic notions of sentience and the "soul". Souls are ill defined and hence logically subject to justified ridicule as having any real chance for actual existence. Ask an average person on the street of the "soul" and he/she'll probably give you an ideal which doesn't have any underlying intricacy or order. Several may even describe the soul as a transparent, misty, and immaterial cloud! There hasn't been any technology to directly (or any credible indirect methods) observe a soul. That is the fatal difference between a materialistic view of awareness and a theological one; a materialistic consciousness can feasibly improve upon its own substrate, which is contrary to the intangible capability of a "mystical-consciousness" mind model. If it is impossible to conceive the Apotheosis at our intelligence level, and the popular religious view is correct, it is impossible to intentionally achieve the approaching of such a state anytime soon. Hence, this view is innately useless to consider beyond superficial inspection. We could sit around thinking about the best way to think up the condition of Apotheosis, but it could easily turn out futile in contrast to superior intelligence of our own. 1.1.3 Consciousness Enhancement Diametrically opposite of the prospect "Religious Transcension/Ascension" in its view of substrates of consciousness, this materialistic niche is for me the most plausible of any of the prospects in bringing about the Apotheosis. It allows for possible higher understanding than we currently perceive the world right now. We can by this outlook manipulate our own consciousnesses through our deterministic physical substrates. If we can't, we're stuck with trying to understand the Apotheosis with our mediocre intellects. But how far are we really at a point in time when intelligence manipulation at such a level is even possible? 2. The Singularity: An Integral Direction There are, at present, no full-proof technologies that can significantly enhance our own intelligences, or even create new human-level intelligences (artificial intelligence). If you haven't noticed, though, technologies have progressed so rapidly in the 20th century, and are even advancing more rapidly in the 21st century that there will eventually be a point in time when for us to keep up with the changes, we'll have to enhance our intelligence. "Unlike growth curves in particular physical systems, which always saturate, computational trend curves have been shown to be consistently hyperexponential and substrate independent." -- John Smart Most importantly in relation to technological progression, computers are increasingly becoming faster. Current home computers by far exceed any of the supercomputers capacities of the 60s, 70s, and even 80s! This speed increase was even noticed as early as the 1960's. In 1965, Gordon Moore, an inventor of the integrated circuit and also then chairman of Intel, noticed that the surface area of a transistor in an integrated circuit was being cut by about fifty percent every year. He eventually updated the law, named Moore's Law, in 1975 for 24 months every fifty-percent decrease (which better fits the data). Because of this decrease in area consumption, more transistors have been able to be fitted in the same area, thereby increasing the computer's processing speed. "The result is that every two years, you can pack twice as many transistors on an integrated circuit. This doubles both the number of components on a chip as its speed. Since the cost of a integrated circuit fairly constant, the implication is that every two years you can get twice as much circuitry running at twice the speed for the same price." -- Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines, p. 21 Not only that, computers with different types of underlying systems are being developed, too. DNA computers, optical computers, and quantum computers are all relatively new computing paradigms. The interesting part is that in their early development, they're much more promising than the computer you're probably reading this text on now. Even theoretical computing ideals have been anticipated involving sub-atomic particles instead of just working with whole atoms. These new "prototypes" could easily soar past Moore's Law. But What Does Computing Power Have to Do With Increased Intelligence? The brain has a limited calculation capacity. 80 trillion estimated connections between all the neurons and each time a connection is activated, that is an operation. The brain can therefore process at about 80 trillion operations per second. As of June 2002, the supercomputer Earth Simulator built by NEC can peak 40 teraflops a second. That is equal to 40 trillion calculations per second; still only half of the human capacity. But according to Moore's Law, in about 3 to 4 years a supercomputer could be built to equal or surpass the human brain's projected calculation abilities. This is where the leap of logic in your noodle (brain) must transpire. Wouldn't it be a hoot if we could run greater-than-human intelligence and sentience on these systems (AI and brain emulation)? Achieving actual greater intelligence external to our "natural" selves would have vast implications for humankind. That's the correlation between intelligence enhancement and external computing power. What happens after we create new beings or emulate ourselves in systems more intelligent than us by many folds? Sounds like a good science fiction novel, maybe? Nope. That's the limit. No science fiction nor any prediction literature could credibly be written after a state in which the world passes beyond our through intelligence, because it is our inferior intelligence trying to imagine beings that think unimaginably above ourselves, after all. It is impossible to predict the actions of beings intellectually greater than you. After that, what can we say? "Here I had tried a straightforward extrapolation of technology, and found myself precipitated over an abyss. It's a problem we face every time we consider the creation of intelligences greater than our own. When this happens, human history will have reached a kind of singularity - a place where extrapolation breaks down and new models must be applied - and the world will pass beyond our understanding." -- Vernor Vinge, True Names and Other Dangers, p. 47. The point in time when our understanding exceeds our present quantitative conception of reality through technology, humanity shall have reached what many call the Singularity. Sounds analogous to what was written earlier about enhancing our understanding to realize the Apotheosis, doesn't it? If there is a most feasible path through to the Apotheosis, it is the Singularity. Being that the Singularity is the point when technology brings the world beyond our understanding, why predict it will happen anytime in our life times? If you note the points in time between each major advance in human civilization, you realize the rate is speeding up so quickly that the Singularity, the point in time when the rate is so quick human understanding of the technologies will soar past any of human's intellectual capacities to comprehend. Probably the biggest potential leap towards the Apotheosis is the Singularity. No other "event" truly embodies enhancing yourself for greater chance of a better life. Imagine being able to read all the works of humanity in just days, hours, or even minutes, living forever, creating new life forms never before previously conceived of, ridding the world of famine and disease, more succinctly understanding the world around you greater than ever before, and of course, reaching the Apotheosis! It presents an opportunity for near cosmic intellectual growth and beyond. Understanding of the world after the Singularity will be far, far beyond any anthropomorphic facet we attribute to society and reality. 2.1 Technologies Feasible for Initiating the Singularity Obviously the questions now are: What ways, if any, are there towards the Singularity? What types of technology could help us enhance our own understanding of things? Gaining popularity among technologists and the such since its conception by Vernor Vinge, the most popular technological proposals have been: Uploading, the idea up transferring your consciousness to a computerized paradigm so eventually you could increase your own intelligence for further understanding and altering the world, nanotechnology, the notion of radically altering your environment towards your bidding through atomic-scale construction and de-construction. The last of the three is AI (artificial intelligence), creating sentience through digital machines (computers) and helping the AI to understand fundamental aspects of its underlying software so it can improve upon its intelligence and physical capabilities indefinitely until and after it has the intelligence to radically, and quite possibly incomprehensibly to us today, reform our way of life. All these technologies are all in their very early stages of development (except for maybe artificial intelligence), but there are many very non-stupid people researching the development of these technologies. 2.1.1 Uploading The possibility of uploading provides an escape from this rickety and fragile human body we inhabit. It speculates humans will one day be able to literally transfer their consciousness from their original biological brain to a new non-biological system. The new system could be cybernetic, or the individual could be completely within a computer system running a reality simulation! Uploading is simply the idea of uploading a person's consciousness while keeping all of its subjective memories, beliefs, habits, and etc. Definitions of sentience range from a romantic notion of the "mind" being virtually exempt from material reality to having all the aspects of awareness within a completely deterministic materialist substrate. A moderate view known popularly as duality also exists. Views where the brain and a "mind stuff" somehow communicate via some way of transport to produce awareness. For all intents and purposes, uploading technology would require that deterministic and replicable sentiences are what we are. Otherwise, the prospect of this technology initiating the Singularity is inherently defunct. Although to just simply claim this technology as defunct for these possible reasons is not only pretentious, but also unscientific and equal to saying we'd never fly! Exactly how would uploading actually bring about the Singularity? Isn't uploading rather equal intelligence and not an increase in intelligence that is needed truly achieve a Singularity? Uploading is only a transferring of the consciousness from one substrate to another substrate. What we can infer from the concept of uploading technology is that it is a given that understanding of the human brain in great detail would be required to have any reasonable chance in emulating the human brain in a different substrate (i.e. computer). With knowledge of the fundamental principles of how the brain works would allow us, eventually to be able to infer how to emulate even a more advanced human brain! So, once you uploaded a human, enhancing its original abilities would be most likely very easy compared to augmenting humans as they are now. After that a SI (superintelligence) could very well be created, and the world would soon pass beyond our understanding. Just as human society is beyond an ape's understanding. 2.1.1.1 Is It Really Me? What does it mean to copy or transfer your consciousness to a different substrate (i.e. computer system or robot)? Are you the same person? A clear-cut definition of consciousness in relation to uploading would help. In relation to uploading your mind onto a different underlying system, what aspect of sentience needs to adhere to this for uploading to be doable? In particular a good question is: Is the physical substrate of an individual his/her awareness, or is the contents of his accumulated subjective experiences, memories, theories, beliefs, and etc his/her "essence" (if the latter is his "essence" any type of substrate that accumulates the same experience and etc is his/her)? As for a thought experiment, lets choose the first option "physical substrate of the individual". How exactly is this defined? Well, this basically means that all the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up the atoms of an individual's brain is his consciousness, regardless if a copy of him could be created. They would innately be different identities altogether. There is a general very big flaw in this argument, however. Have you ever talked to someone that claimed to have not changed at all during their lifetimes as they grew from a toddler to skipping school to watch Jerry Springer? During the time from being a toddler to his/her Jerry fixation he/she gradually learned more of the world. He/she experienced a changed awareness of the world, side effects of learning you know. Ultimately it is only logical to assume that the material substrate of the individual was altered from toddler to adult during those years (The Jerry Springer Show can and will warp your mind). Is that person fundamentally a different person? To say yes would open of a can of moral dilemmas. For one, you could shoot a person in the foot and say that since you shot him in the foot he is a different person now and therefore cannot be the one to press charges against you! Consciousness is a dynamic and changing system. If it were static no one would really be aware in this entire world! The only way to preserve this "physical substrate of the individual" type consciousness is to stuff him/her in an external sensory proof box and tell him/her not to think at all! Is this awareness at all? I wouldn't think so here and especially in that box! Hence, uploading/transferring is not destroying a consciousness; it is transferring it while keeping the subjective experiences of the individual intact under an alternate substrate, which sustains them. There are different speeds and methods imaginable (only on an intuitive level, no one has yet actually figured out a full-proof step-by-step method of uploading). 2.1.2 AI (Artificial Intelligence) As with uploading, for AI to be truly successful sentience must again be deterministic and materialistic. Anything else would leave AI defunct in being able to be aware. Working on this premise, a correlation between AI and the Singularity can be easily understood if you read how uploading can correlate to the Singularity. In terms of short-term capability AI is probably the most advanced of the three proposed ways. Neural networks, heuristic systems, and fusions of the two are being developed by thousands of professional researchers and even at-home amateurs across the world. Computational abilities near the realm of human capacity are catching up with us. If one had enough money and resources, a supercomputer could be constructed equivalent to the human brain and beyond. By this time, a self-improving AI (one that can improve its own software code) will probably be eventually created. Not long after, given enough external manipulation and communication abilities, it would be able to drastically change our world for better or worse. There's a good chance you're objecting to AI. The only reason you find AI to be possibly threatening is because of movies you've seen where AI kicks humanity's ass. If there was a threat of creating superintelligences between AI and uploading, uploading is more dangerous. Why? Humans have evolved traits such as selfishness, aggressiveness, and other non-altruistic behavior throughout the ages by evolution and culture. When an AI is created it won't have any of these evolved traits. Selfishness is very complex and seemingly pointless if it isn't hardwired into your mind. So are sexual attraction, tribal behavior, and the like. An AI would have to be hardwired with these behaviors, which I see no reason why a research group would. I would understand, though, that an uploaded person would keep these traits to an extent, which is much more dangerous. Why else should we pick AI out of the three? Friendly AI is deliberately programmed to be friendly to humans no matter what you try and throw at it. Instead of just creating an AI without any of those nasty evolved traits we have, we can give it altruistic and positive behaviors! In effect, we can purposely try to create Friendly AI. A AI, which would contain as much as possible the positive attributes of altruism, has a much determinably higher probability of being nice to the rest of us. Hence it is favorable to developing uploading or nanotechnology first. 2.1.3 Nanotechnology I've lasted mentioned this technology, as it would probably be more understood by superintelligences vastly. I simply mentioned this technology will be developed as a means of quickly altering our world. The idea is rather simple once you understand very basic ideas of sub-atomic particles like protons and neutrons. Just imagine molecular-size machines composed of such particles at such sizes altering the atomic structures and sub-atomic structures. Simple as the idea is the implementation is very complex and very difficult, unless you had nanosize hands, nanosize eyes, and the intellectual ability to create self-replicating "nanobots" that would create the structures you desired. With the introduction of SI (superintelligence) technologies (uploading and AI), nanotechnology will most likely be more maturely developed and utilized than any unenhanced human could ever effectively think up. 2.2 Eliminating Existential Risks "Never before has man had such capacity to control his own destiny, to end thirst and hunger, to conquer poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and massive human misery. We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world--or make it the last." -- John F. Kennedy As technology has advanced so has the risk of its misuse. The reason is because as static, self-non-improving beings humans are, external improvements to society always augment our general capabilities, but we're even now prone to our evolutionary limits in handling. Humans have not yet intimately involved themselves in the creations we originated. And because of this, inherent terminal threats can easily be extrapolated of certain technologies. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis is a grim example of how close man could have utterly obliterated itself. Teetering on a thin rope of diplomatic relations and disputes, the Cuban Missile Crisis became probably the closest to complete destruction of sentient life on Earth. Less than one hundred individuals determined the life of billions of others. Nuclear annihilation has been a central theme in movies incorporating end-of-the-world scenarios, however even more today other niches of human ingenuity today engage further novel fashions of total destruction. "Because of accelerating technological progress, humankind may be rapidly approaching a critical phase in its career. In addition to well-known threats such as nuclear holocaust, the prospects of radically transforming technologies like nanotech systems and machine intelligence present us with unprecedented opportunities and risks. Our future, and whether we will have a future at all, may well be determined by how we deal with these challenges. In the case of radically transforming technologies, a better understanding of the transition dynamics from a human to a "posthuman" society is needed. Of particular importance is to know where the pitfalls are: the ways in which things could go terminally wrong. While we have had long exposure to various personal, local, and endurable global hazards, this paper analyzes a recently emerging category: that of existential risks. These are threats that could cause our extinction or destroy the potential of Earth-originating intelligent life." -- Nick Bostrom, "Existential Risks: Analyzing Human Extinction Scenarios and Related Hazards", Abstract Ultratechnologies, specifically those mentioned here, can be ultimately positive and ultimately negative. All three pose a plausible threat to all of us, however in terms of accelerating advances in research of the three fields, they vary in their maturity. Dwelling on only one of these fields is inadequate and dangerous in itself, as they are all being developed simultaneously. A synergistic train of thought should be utilized to recognize and deal accordingly with all the dangers for each individual ultratechnology. "We must use time as a tool, not as a couch." -- John F. Kennedy What can be said of all the ultratechnologies? They are being advanced while at the same time. Also, existential risks not involving humans like global warming and asteroid disasters are running on the same time line, as well. To increase our chances of eternal survival greater control of our environment at once must be obtained. The faster we are at doing this, the lower probability we'll end up dead in some obscure cold ditch alongside the road to the Singularity. 2.3 Other Reasons for the Singularity The Apotheosis is a very good reason for achieving the Singularity. But for most this isn't the most popular reason. Understanding what the Singularity is can easily let you extrapolate some things about the future beyond. These three miscellaneous consequences are generally considered very good. Whether the Singularity will be good or not, because of these possible consequences, and that there are people consciously aware trying to initiate the Singularity, it will undoubtedly transpire unless something catastrophic occurs to Earth and knocks human improvement way off kilter. 2.3.1 Immortality 155,000 people die everyday. We're trying, but how fast are we really dealing with this problem? Egyptians were obsessed with immortality, and even constructed huge monuments and tombs such as the Pyramids to facilitate an afterlife. Millennia later we're quite sure they weren't too successful. And today we're quite sure we aren't being that much more successful these days, either! Sure, we're making progress in understanding that low-calorie diets can double a mammal's lifespan, but we're not anywhere close to infinite lifespans. A higher understanding of human biology via the Singularity is obvious. Who says we're going to die? I'm certainly going to try and surmount that! Though I personally disagree, some people find this outlook of immortality to be a reason for living. If we could live forever and ever, but simply stay at our current intellect level, the chances of realizing the Apotheosis are peanuts compared to chances after the Singularity and reaching superior comprehension (but I do agree it gives us a chance to forever try and improve ourselves). 2.3.2 True Equality Many of the individuals consciously trying to initiate the Singularity are doing so for the good of humanity. This is not simply a quest for the incomprehensible, but a quest for also the ridding of deprived children, starving populations, STDs, genocide, oppression, and all other sorts of nasties people have to deal with these days on a daily basis. The Singularity is the best way we can see to ending these problems completely. 2.3.3 The Endless Party Though by definition after the Singularity such will be incomprehensible it is generally understood the Singularity is for good. As such, you could say depression and other types of hopelessness will eradicated when ultratechnologies make their stake in the new society. Pleasure in boring and/or repetitive activities (to get tasks done faster) could be a standard practice. 2.3.4 Exploration and Discovery After the Singularity it's obvious new, better ways in understanding the world around us will be shaped. If you're a very inquisitive person, tons of knowledge could be acquired in days (literally, imagine your brain being increased to a size which uses tons of material!) ... Imagine reading all of human literature in weeks, days, or minutes! The Singularity is almost certainly the biggest goal to help a probing person's quest for knowledge. 2.4 Organizations/Websites Related to the Singularity The ideas presented here are preliminary glimpses of deeper thoughts that are much more competently and resourcefully expressed. These websites provide these explanations. - Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence @ http//www.singinst.org The SIAI (Singularity Insititute for Artificial Intelligence) is a non-profit corporation dedicated to initiating the Singularity through the advent of superintelligent Friendly AI. - SingularityWatch @ http//www.singularitywatch.com A excellent introductory site to related concepts of the Singularity, maintained primarily by John Smart. - Immortal Institute @ http//www.imminst.org As an online forum, this is a recommended for advanced and even introductory Singularity-related discussion. - Nick Bostrom @ http//www.nickbostrom.com Although technically the homepage of a Yale philosophy professor, it has many links and philosophical insights for the future. 3. What Now? Certainly unless you've been experienced in reading this sort of stuff, you're probably either in a state of "whoa" or you have no idea what has been really been conveyed here. You probably took some breaks in reading this. Some of the concepts require enormous leaps of intuitive understanding if you haven't had much previous related reading experience. These ideas are rather past any of society's normal ideals and because of such shouldn't be recklessly spoken of. To speak of this to average person liberally would more or less turn them off and consequently hinder the acceleration to the Singularity and hence to the Apotheosis. Any Singularitarian, someone dedicated to initiating the Singularity, usually has had extensive past in reading and pondering controversial technologies like uploading, nanotechnology, AI, and the sort which prepared him/her for the concept of the Singularity. Even if you were to speak to a very intelligent and open-minded person of the Singularity (not to mention the Apotheosis) he probably would be too skeptical unless he has been previously involved with understanding and pondering the societal implications of technologies. If you're into helping accelerate to the Singularity for the Apotheosis or the Singularity for other reasons, then contacting, donating to, volunteering for, visiting the websites of, researching and helping advancing the technologies spoken of here, and generally advocating the organizations created for the Singularity (and the like) is your best shot. If there's a more pragmatic way of achieving the Apotheosis, I've yet to see one. A reason this paper was wrote was to act as a very general "roadmap" to understanding how the Apotheosis may be realized. 3.1 Yeah, But What If We Just Can't Get There Yo? The existence of the Apotheosis cannot be disproved, as by definition it is a fulfillment of an understanding we cannot comprehend and/or discern. To say it doesn't exist would be to boast beyond our imagination! All we can do is posit its existence and attempt to realize the incomprehensible. There is simply no guarantee, only a damn good reason to strive. Even after the Singularity, when current understanding of the world changes, if we still feel that there is that nagging "pointlessness", we'll still be able to know we must enhance ourselves further. We can't disprove this incomprehensibly good existence, therefore I'm eternally going to try and achieve it. It's reasonable to comment this Apotheosis concept is simply a pseudo-religious philosophical scapegoat that attempts justifying living under the veil of a truly pointless materialist universe. But such misses the point of the Apotheosis, which is seeing through this pointlessness. No matter how religious the idea of Apotheosis seems (one definition of Apotheosis is ascension to divine status), it is based on working with scientific and rational methodologies of which should be used to manifest these philosophical ideals. If you can give me a better, more purposeful reason to stick around, I wouldn't mind hearing it. Claiming that reaching the Apotheosis is as easy as reading this document is far from what I believe. This paper is not simply rhetoric and needless tautology of lofty ideals and whims. One purpose of it is to illustrate a pragmatic (as pragmatic as possible, anyway) and rational road towards the Apotheosis. This road involves garnering money, research capabilities, and enough willing competent individuals. To say I believe all this speculation will magically spring up and self-manifest is untrue. The scope of the challenge needs to be fully understood, for it is difficult. I don't know if the Apotheosis will ever be fulfilled. Tomorrow I might be hit by a car, involved in a deadly conspiracy, mutilated by Luddites, or drowned in a sea of Sports Illustrated supermodels. My ultimate goal now in life is to reach the Apotheosis through the Singularity's hopeful consequences. If there isn't an Apotheosis, my existence never had meaning. Try and possibly fail; don't try and definitely fail. All of human existence has strived for something. A masochist enjoys pain in the common sense. But then is it any longer "pain"? We're all striving for goals with pleasurable results. Humans altogether are looking for happiness. Some just want bliss; others want something authentic. What is ultimately 'authentic' is what some are looking for. I'm down with it... You down yo? |
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