Singularity University

In the Singularity Movement, Humans Are So Yesterday - NYTimes.com: "Some of the Singularity’s adherents portray a future where humans break off into two species: the Haves, who have superior intelligence and can live for hundreds of years, and the Have-Nots, who are hampered by their antiquated, corporeal forms and beliefs."

Found this article about artificial intelligence and pushing evolution with molecular genetics and looked for information on consciousness and creativity, not just thinking by machines. Computers can, for example compose music, but to the best of my knowledge it is not the Mozart kind of music.

It should today be possible to interact with computers via one's mind already. Perhaps the most interesting thing that might evolve in the near future is a human mind aided by a computer?

Value in Evolution and Thoughts?

Evolution depends on energetic phenomena, recombination, mutation to change the genetic makeup of the cell. There are no energetic differences when something valuable is created compared to something invaluable, a more common occurrence. Valuable functionally or in our eyes. However, it was valuable even before Man existed and therefore value is added without energetic differences. What is this value? As Bergson said, it seems to strive upwards. We call the process that detects value for natural selection.
Our thoughts seem to be evolutional in this respect. If random processes account for creativity then a valuable idea is a rare occurrence. The brain somehow selects and reacts for good ideas. I have earlier speculated that the water environment might be necessary for creativity. If it is a random process, however, a computer can do it in a silicon-copper environment provided it can generate and detect value.

The blogosphere vs reading books?

Thomas Anderberg has an essay in Dagens Nyheter where he discusses the difference between reading a book and reading blogs on the internet. That is at least my interpretation of his discussion of Maryanne Wolfs book Proust and the Squid. Anderberg claims that the step from an oral tradition, advocated by Socrates, to reading can be parallelled with the step from reading a book and reading on the web.

If you browse the web there is two types of information: facts and ideas. A plane crashed here and there or something like the idea pictured above. The blogosphere consist of concise posts where an idea is surround by not so many words as in a book. This feature has been taken to an extreme, twitter, where the ideas are even more concentrated.

Wolf apparently think the a persons maturity is in danger when reading in this fashion. Especially so when young people without a book-developed knowledge base studies in this way. I'm not so sure that is correct. Is this not rather a development to the better where the mind get stimulated in a superior fashion for developing greater potential for creativity? Stimulated by ideas rather than words. This reasoning requires of course that the quality of the authors is equivalent.

Europe's New Lost Generation

Europe's New Lost Generation, by Annie Lowrey Foreign Policy: "Most European programs meant to promote youth employment are still in their early stages and could take months or even years to implement. It was only a month ago, for example, that the European Commission recommended that the 27 EU member states create 5 million apprenticeships to help young workers 'ride out the storm' and to train malleable young people for growing job sectors, such as green energy."

It is apparently not only Obama that believes in the green sector. One question is, however, how the problem of paying for pensions is requiring that more people "work longer and harder" as someone expressed it. Having old people work longer and all unemployed youth finding a job simultaneously is really going to demand a lot of jobs. This is going to happen at the same time as the developing countries creates low paying jobs. Lower salaries in the West, anyone? OK, creativity and entrepreneurial activity is a better solution?