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Quote from: alancalverd on 03/06/2021 07:28:09Quote from: hamdani yusuf on 02/06/2021 23:42:57But now we can decide which microbiome should live inside us, which one should die, So there is an inevitable conflict of interests, and only human vanity decides which should win. No sign of a universal goal! There are conflict of interest between people from different countries. Also from the same country. Or the same organization. Even among siblings. Even twins. Even among cells in the same human individual. But that doesn't mean that they can't have common goals. The only similarity applicable to every conscious being, regardless of their shape, form, size, and ingredients, is that they want to extend the existence of consciousness further into the future. It's not restricted to selfish behavior, although self preservation is important up to some limit. In general, parents want to give better lives to their children. It means that their children would have better chance to survive, but also means that the children are not exactly the same as the parents. Extrapolated to many generations, the accumulated difference between earliest ancestors and latest descendants could be huge, they are unrecognizable anymore to be in the same lineage. Our ancestors played their roles as the scaffolding to our existence. We also have our role to be the scaffolding to the existence of our descendants or successors. A good moral standard would tell us if we behave like a good or bad scaffolding. It would inevitably prioritize things according to their impacts to the future of consciousness. There would be sacrifices in one form or another.
Quote from: hamdani yusuf on 02/06/2021 23:42:57But now we can decide which microbiome should live inside us, which one should die, So there is an inevitable conflict of interests, and only human vanity decides which should win. No sign of a universal goal!
But now we can decide which microbiome should live inside us, which one should die,
Ray Kurzweil depicted the future in technological singularity by turning most of accessible matters into information processing objects as parts of AGI. In the future, there will be more smart matters and less dumb matters. Internet of things and edge computing are inevitably emerging as parts of the progress. Although the long term trend seems to align with that direction, we can't just follow it blindly while ignoring other important and more urgent issues. Besides of information processing, any conscious entities need some other things, such as power sources, energy storages, protective shields, data back up, material processing, and waste disposal and management.
All life needs phosphorus and agricultural yields are improved when phosphorus is added to growing plants and the diet of livestock. Consequently, it is used globally as a fertilizer — and plays an important role in meeting the world’s food requirements.In order for us to add it, however, we first need to extract it from a concentrated form — and the supply comes almost exclusively from phosphate mines in Morocco (with far smaller quantities coming from China, the U.S., Jordan and South Africa). Within Morocco, most of the mines are in Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony which was annexed by Morocco in 1975.The fact that more than 70 percent of the global supply comes from this single location is problematic, especially as scientists are warning that we are approaching “peak phosphorus”, the point at which demand begins to outstrip supply and intensive agriculture cannot continue to provide current yields. In the worst case scenario, mineable reserves could be exhausted within as little as 35 years.In the first half of the 19th century, Justus von Liebig popularized the law of the minimum for agriculture, which states that growth is limited by the least available resource. It was soon discovered that this was often some form of phosphorus.As a consequence, bones — comprised mostly of calcium and phosphate — from old battlefields were dug up to use in farming. Guano, large accumulations of bird droppings, also contains high concentrations of phosphorus and was used to fertilize crops. But supplies of this were soon depleted. As demand increased, supplies had to be mined instead.
The only similarity applicable to every conscious being, regardless of their shape, form, size, and ingredients, is that they want to extend the existence of consciousness further into the future.
Previously I said that the universal terminal goal is to protect the last conscious being. Although this one is a logical consequence of my preferred expression above, it seems to add a preliminary task, which is identifying who the last conscious being is. It also seems to imply that the other conscious beings are to be ignored.
Quote from: hamdani yusuf on 05/06/2021 22:41:27The only similarity applicable to every conscious being, regardless of their shape, form, size, and ingredients, is that they want to extend the existence of consciousness further into the future.I realise that I have expressed the idea of universal terminal goal in some different ways. I feel that this one is the least controversial and easiest to follow.
Here is another way to describe consciousness in the context of universal terminal goal. Consciousness level of a system describes how much control it has to determine its own future.
What is consciousness? Consciousness is what we know best and explain least. It is the inner subjective experience of what it feels like to see red or smell garlic or hear Beethoven. Consciousness is baffling. Featuring interviews with Simon Blackburn, Susan Greenfield, Christof Koch, Bruce Hood, and Roy Baumeister.
So, I think I have arrived to the final conclusion about universal terminal goal. It came from definitions of each word in the phrase, and take their implications into account. Goal is the noun, while terminal and universal are the adjectives that describe the noun.
Imagine you go to a restaurant. Looking at the menu, you discover that they serve your two favourite meals – say asparagus and spinach tart. What will you do? You may hesitate for a while, but then you will make your choice. You have to make a choice, don’t you? Even if you’re hungry or greedy enough to order both, you have to decide which to eat first.Now, how do you decide? Given that you like both equally, why do you choose, say, spinach tart, and not asparagus? There are two possible general answers. You can say either that:a) There is no reason (no cause) for your choice. You just act, and you could equally well choose the other meal. Or:b) There is a reason, but it’s unknown to you.The second answer seems more plausible, because it accords with a principle that’s fundamental to the way we think. This principle is commonly called Leibniz’s Law, or the Principle of Sufficient Reason. It can be stated in various ways:• Nihil sine ratione: Nothing is without a reason.• Nothing happens without a sufficient reason/cause.• For each event A there is another event B (or a combination of events) that precedes it and fully explains why A had to happen.• Ex nihilo nihil fit: Nothing comes out of nothing.
Of course there are situations where we have difficulties in making up our minds (we sometimes have those difficulties, but not donkeys). This is often the case when much depends on our decision. But in the end we will decide one way or the other, even if only because the lapse of time changes the situation. Buridan’s ass starves because he’s imagined as timeless, as somehow removed from the passage of time. He’s frozen in a situation where there’s only him and the two piles of hay. Yet since donkeys live in time, no donkey will ever starve because he lacks free will
The paradox seems to quickly dismiss that sitting still wasting time is a third option, which makes the situation a false dichotomy. In this case, wasting time indefinitely is the worst possible option, which should be avoided. When the other two options are equally good, then choosing randomly would be great.
There is a third option. There is a reason for your choice and it’s known to you.
Quote from: Colin2B on 24/06/2021 13:56:03There is a third option. There is a reason for your choice and it’s known to you.Are you still talking about Buridan's ass? In this case, the options are :go to leftgo to rightgo to neither, or stay where it is