I am very new to all this, but it is difficult to see any major differences
between Cosmism and Transhumanism. The main distinction seems to come after
we pass Singularity (is this the same as artilect emergence?). All seems to
rest on our potential for translating our own consciousness (personality)
onto or into the emerging artilects. If this is possible we have
Transhumanism, if not we have cosmism?

Will we be able to use artilects to augment our own intellects or will they
necessarily be independent entities?

Again I am no expert, but the neural nets that are being evolved in hard-AI
necessarily use an infrastructure very different to that evolved in our
brains. Does this not mean we will have great trouble trying to map between
the two? In fact, until a standard neural infrastructure is ironed out for
artilects themselves, will we not even have trouble mapping evolved
structures between different artilects? Does this not point to artilect
independence?

However, transhumanism is obviously less risky as far as humanity is
concerned and as such should certainly be followed with all urgency. Maybe
we should wait until we know enough about the human brain to facilitate
transhumanism before evolving artilects? Could this argument be used by
Terrans to delay artilect development?

regards
Tony


>From: "D.den Otter" <neosapient@...>
>Reply-To: Artilect@onelist.com
>To: Artilect@onelist.com
>Subject: Re: [Artilect] Questions for the artilect group
>Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 15:45:36 +0100
>
>From: "D.den Otter" <neosapient@...>
>
> > >From: "Tony Savage" <a_lsavage@...>
> > >
> > >
> > >The answer depends on whether you are a Terran or a Cosmist.
> > >
> > >?Very cryptic.
> > >Are we not all Cosmists here?
>
>If a Terran opposes all fundamental changes to the human
>condition, and a Cosmist wants to create AIs at (almost)
>any cost, then I'm neither. Why on earth would we want
>to throw ourselves at the mercy of superior machines?
>
>We should be glad that, almost certainly, there is no god
>to judge us and to throw us in Hell, or highly advanced
>aliens that come to take over our planet. We are free.
>Free to evolve and become "god-like" ourselves: immortal,
>omniscient and omnipresent. Only a fool would hand
>over our hard-earned dominant position on earth to
>an effectively "alien" race of machines. Let's become
>our own successors and shape the universe in our
>image. (see: http://www.transtopia.org for the whole
>vision).
>
>P.s: Is this my first post to this list? If so, hi to all :)
>
>--DdO
>
>--------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ----------------------------
>
>Get what you deserve with NextCard Visa. Rates as low as 2.9 percent
>Intro or 9.9 percent Fixed APR, online balance transfers, Rewards
>Points, no hidden fees, and much more. Get NextCard today and get the
>credit you deserve. Apply now. Get your NextCard Visa at
><a href=" http://clickme.onelist.com/ad/NextcardCreative1CL ">Click
>Here</a>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Join the ArtilectRing
>http://artilect.org/artilectring
>

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com