Transhuman Singularity

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Thanks for your readership over the years!

Michael Blade, Science Fiction Blogger

So this is not a science fiction post and I don't normally weigh in on the meaning of the universe and god, but for what it is worth here it is . . . the meaning of existence for me.

True nothingness can not exist while we are conscious; for consciousness implies an observer and the observed, or the observing of something, including the physiological processes which allow for the functioning and awaking of consciousness itself. If the multiverse creates itself, then perhaps it is a godlike entity, with godlike qualities that is becoming.

If that is so, then we are a part of that entity by very definition of being in the universe and a thinking part of it. The concept of time itself may ultimately not exist and the entity just is. Did we all just create god by thinking about the concept rather than the other way around?

Our purpose maybe individualized but also generalized as well. Not for me in the form of organized religion, but in the idea and experience of understanding myself and others. Knowing through experience as much of the universe as my life time will possibly allow.

Back to the concept of nothingness. We often confuse not having or seeing something as nothing, but true nothingness cannot be observed. In fact I would argue that anything may be possible while we exist consciously, but we can only experience true nothingness when we no longer exist ourselves!

Nothingness is the absence of everything and neither state can experience each other. My logic is sound, you would have a better chance accurately describing god or everything, unless god where nothingness or both! An impossible thing and maybe the best definition yet, be me so blastphemous.

If when I die my conciousness ceases to exist in this instance of this present current universe. I will have died here and now (there is that time-thing again). However, I may not have died in some parallel universe reality where lifespans are thousands of years long . . . although I also may not be much like my expired self in that reality having not had many of the same experiences, or too many new ones.

Now I'm going to really stretch this reasoning a lot further and possibly bend, break or warp some minds. Assume for a moment, indulge me please, there is only one conciousness, in fact the conciousness of this one godlike being which is not really one being, but all beings who at one time during each life where conscious. A single stream of conciousness for every being that ever existed sown together as part of one super being experiencing every possibility across a multiverse of infinite possibilities?

Or a dream dreaming itself, an illusion that believes itself to so be real and then becomes real. At this point my thinking of things become vague and the concept itself vanishes and maybe that's it. No one individual can truly know the truth from our limited prospective.

Does that invalidate my questions? No, I think not. For I am just a piece of the concious universe trying to understand itself. A minuscule speck of godlike conciousness in a multiverse of infinite possibilities and-or unfathomable nothingness. I choose to be something rather than nothing.

Some Historical Background Info first:

The original Science Fiction Cafe was born in Second Life then was migrated to my own hosted server in San Diego, CA -USA to become Viradu Science Fiction Themed World. The Viradu Experiment helped me come up with the idea for the Materialized Virtuality in the video (NOTE: A short and descriptive concept only, non-implementation this doesn't exist yet as far as I know). Right now Viradu is still up and running and if you hurry you can actually experience it at http://viradu.com

A new idea came to me out of my Viradu experiment, Materialized Virtuality. I'm sure I'm not the only one to think of Materialized Virtuality! However, I just maybe one of the early thinkers before the practical commercial applications of it. It may even be called something else entirely. This is not to be confused with augmented reality, no don't do that.

Laser Dinosaur Aliens is not real, its just a concept to illustrate a point and get some creative thinking going ... you are welcome to make it real.

A definition of Materialized Virtuality: You make something "as an avatar" in the virtual and then print it out to the real in 3D materials that allows for virtual space social network gifting and memes. Possibly in store gaming with "GPS herding" to a specific location like Joe's Pizza Palace.

Basically it links the two worlds, real and virtual with tangible real objects created from virtual objects. This is powerful realworld reinforcement of the virtual. Think, your virtual market space will become even more real and I strongly believe this is the approach path which should be explored in more detail next. If you have any questions about what I'm getting at, contact me . . . above.

After my body died the surgeons put me in a hummingbird. It took a while to get use to having my perspective darting around so quickly, but my mind had finally adapted to it. At least that was what the psychologist told me.

Maybe it was so. My mind had been living for a long time in the cloud; most of my personality and memories had been living there for a while anyway. The cancer was just horrible. It ate away at my old body until it was no more.

I really don’t like thinking about it now. Maybe later I will review those death memories for some possible insights; but for now I was all good and darting around quickly.

I had adapted to my new fast and light bird body. The technology was interesting enough. They surgically implanted a wireless transceiver in the bird’s body and injected nanotecs into it, which migrate to the brains neurons.

I literally had a bird brain. Some of my true friends finally laughed it off; even joked about it with me . . . once they got use to me giving them the bird! One of the most formidable intellectual minds of our century now living in the mind of a hummingbird -it’s too ironic and funny, so as to be actually true.

It made perfect sense you see technically most of my thoughts were now actually occurring in the algorithms simulating me in virtual space, my virtual brain. What I like to call my essence of soul and my one fragile living presence in the real world, a small bird who just ate colored sugar water.

Able to see and fly anywhere there was a wireless signal. The thing that bothered me the very most though was that I missed foods; tasty meals with others in nice restaurants or ever sloppy-spoon dives.
Anything that gave me that full tummy, that bloated satisfying feel after a full and delicious meal. That’s where virtual reality came into it big time. Everyone had an avatar these days; many even had many, different ones for various occasions of work and play or both.

That was a given, I had a pretty cool virtual office I had even designed myself. Anyway, they had yet to really approximate the simulation of taste to the level that I desired. Simulating dinners with my friends was out of the question for them, they had no reason to really want to simulate eating, when they could and had to do it for real every day.

The exception was sex. I had a fairly active and varied sex life after death! Albeit it was all virtual, but with good feeling. Old lovers never got use to having avatar sex, but I had new ones. Some of them were even hummingbirds like me. Well enough about my sex life, that should suffice to explain it well enough. I’ll leave the rest of it up to your imagination.

As for my day to day life, I hung out in feeders around cafes in Silicon Valley, mostly Palo Alto, CA. It didn’t make any sense to travel globally as a hummingbird, although I attended many virtual meetings worldwide and some even in space, but those felt like playing chess by mail because of the long delays in transmission.

-STANDBY AND RETURN FOR FUTURE STORY CONTINUATIONS ABOUT MY LIFE AS A RESURRECTED HUMMINGBIRD.

Its nice to be able to report on the readership of this blog over the past few years. You see I don't make any money on this blog in advertisement or any other form. It is totally free and I give it up as a contribution to all who are willing to read my somewhat less regular posts. Yes it does promote me (at least my pen name, Michael Blade). However, I have yet to receive a single cent in revenue and I'm not really asking for any. If you are wondering then why do I do it? I would have to say because I love it. I love the small or great unknowable influence that I might have!

I also do not allow comments for a number of reasons. There are those who spam comments on a lot of blogs to drive traffic to their products and services for sales, even if they are not related to the posted subject matter. And then of course there are those who are too shy to post comments anyway, those that enjoy reading the flames of other persons comments, and finally those that have an expert opinion on everything even though they shouldn't. Its not my job to tell them so.

I don't have a mailing list which spams you regularly either. This is not to say I don't support social media and networking, I do. You can easily find my Facebook and other blogs and I allow for contact via the the contact above and other means.

That all said here is a graphic of the readership for 2011 and further back. That's not much you might say, but take it in context from what I said above.

Let me ask this then, when was the last time you influence 45,845 people even slightly? That does sound a little arrogant, doesn't it? Maybe it is . . . but this blog gives back to me as well in intangible ways. You will find some very original thinking in my blog. Its a win all around, and there are not that many things in the world you can say that about. I'm glad this is one of them and I really do hope you enjoy reading it as well. Just pretend I am talking specifically to you and I am.

If you would like to subscribe to this blog in your favorite reader click on the subscribe to this blog icon in the right column. Also in that column you can select from a long list of previous posts which are usually not too dated since they are subject matter futuristic in nature.

You'll also notice I am not perfect and try not to be, with lots of mistakes; since I am still human as you probably are as well!

Peace and Love,
Michael Blade, Science Fiction Blogger 2012

Where are all the aliens?   One of the things that puzzles me the most these days, and maybe a few others as well, is the Fermi Paradox.

Again, where are all the aliens?   The galaxy and universe should be rightly teeming with them.   Or at least I would like to believe and see it so myself.

Assuming the evolution of life on Earth is a normal example and a relatively common happenstance; and that of course it is a big assumption, but let's continue on anyway.

It seems we should have picked up alien signals or have been visited by alien intelligent life by now!   Or at least the results of such life, their constructed proxies sent to visit our very solar system.

At least that is what I would want to do with my intelligent alien curiosity, it would almost mandate it.   Certainly if my species had achieved space travel to a nearby moon or planet, sent out probes and transmitted signals to the stars, I would want to keep going, as far and as fast as I could manage it.

Possibly by sending constructed nano machines self replicating and populating across the galaxy.   Would I (I the species), be able to even posthumously explore and contact life elsewhere?   Certainly, if you believe in all the UFO stories or some of the unverified signals you would say we have already been visited, maybe even been probed.   Let's keep going.

Some of our science instruments in space, namely Kepler are discovering a variety of potentially habitable planets around other stars inside their Goldilock zones right now.   Is is possible that intelligent life, while important for "a short term evolutionary survival”, I mean a few hundred thousand years to a million or so years for a species, excludes that window of opportunity for contact with other lifeforms around other stars?   Simply because the stars are many light years apart.

Basically it is too long a time to wait for the survival of that civilization building species?  Meaning that the level of technology sophistication necessary for star travel is a threshold possibly difficult to reach and maintain for any prolonged period?

That a civilization of said species goes into rapid technological, societal decline, over population, resource scarcity, before or near the milestone of star communication and travel can be achieved?   Is this a given for what must be solved/achieved before being able to make contact with another alien civilization?   How long can one of our modern civilizations last with the availability of radio telescopes and a listening program?

This thereby reduces the chances of contact because of the timing necessary between intelligent alien lifeforms on two separate star systems (possibly very far away, 100's of light years -The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy 100,000-120,000 light-years in diameter containing 200–400 billion stars.) to a factor near that of zero?   Does the Drake equation even take this into account?

So does this explain the Fermi Paradox?   I'm not sure, no one can be with our limited information.   This is of course all a big assumption, hence the first part of the title of this post, "Pure Speculation", very unscientific indeed, but let's push on anyway . . .

Before we go on, think, think this might be the most important time in the life of our human species, the time in which we have the very capability to communicate with other intelligent life living around another star light years away.   Of course you should also be aware we are not allowed to do this, to send a signal again.

Now what is the next question?   I think I might actually know.   I'll try to phrase it in my own words.   How does an intelligent species, a civilization with currently 7 billion (biological living) individuals, on one resource taxed planet, survive long enough and at a high enough technological sophistication level, to achieve first contact with another alien civilization?   Whether that is actually reaching out to make that contact, or simply still being around to hear it when it comes.   “Species Consciousness” I would call it.   Awake and alive long enough for contact to occur and ready to technologically respond.

To me the answer is multifaceted and seems almost obvious.

We need to do a number of intentional things to begin with.   We must first acknowledge the high probability that life and intelligent life exists in the universe.

We must not be frightened of it (in this case fear really is the enemy), or of contacting it (thinking it will be more advanced than us or may not want to respond because of our assumed lower level of advancement), or of even admitting we have contacted it (to the public).   Of course we should be cautious, but not to the extent of prohibiting contact and allowing that contact to be generally acknowledged in public, whatever the immediate and short term consequences might be.

Bad Hollywood alien invasion scenarios must be dismissed for what they are, fantasy entertainment, no different than witches and wizards.   Any alien civilization that can travel the stars, can certainly terraform the most uninhabitable of planets and will be far more interested in observing us in our natural state than conquering us for our resources.

The idea that they would even be short on resources, seems more than preposterous.   Besides at that level a large part of their population may be digital, simply stored and purely computational.   They may experience consciousness at variable rates and only choose to be corporeal when necessarily desirable.   Large numbers of them may live entirely in virtual constructs.   Death for them may even no longer exist, unless it is desired, or some part of a renewal or rejuvenation process for stirring in innovation and new ideas.   They maybe suspended in slow thought, or hyper thought, computing their own realities, waiting for us to trigger their accelerated awakening and response in this one.   Then expending energies to come meet us locally or rendezvous.

Or even more likely agreeing to transmit representatives to us digitally following instructions for construction of a suitable virtual construct, or physical DNA-like womb incubator environmental.   This might be a sort of reverse Carl Sagan "Contact" idea without the actual starship/vessel just a triple redundant encoded signal transmitted to us at the speed of light.   This would be used to "construct or grow" the aliens themselves.   A way for knowledge and experience to be transmitted would have to be possible as well (something we have yet to figure out).   If we had the technology developed, we might agree to this ourselves.   It is certainly more economical and practical an idea that a starship journey, but would involve working with the aliens over decades to accomplish.   Probably a good thing before physical contact.

We must understand that such a contact would transform the human species into a long term survival civilization which would most likely result in the ultimate exploration and settlement of the galaxy itself.   It would in essence guarantee our long term (millions, possible billions of years) survival, if not infinity.   Who knows what we might actual become?   But one thing I think we won't be, is extinct.

How can we achieve this?   We must continue funding and encouraging space exploration and eventually migration.   We must continue to fund projects like SETI.   We must develop a general publicly acknowledged protocol for notification if alien contact is received.   We must openly be able to discuss this in the public eye.

We must also put a backup plan for humanity in place now.   A backup plan for rebooting civilization and the human species in event of a multitude of recognized extinction scenarios.   Only by doing these things can we insure a chance we will be around and possibly conscious for first contact.

If I'm wrong then my speculation doesn't really matter.

However, If I am even partially right, then it matters very greatly.   We must begin acting immediately in this direction.   Our very long term species survival depends upon it and so does our first contact with an alien intelligent species.   I somehow believe after that event that truly anything will become possible between us.   Our potentials will become amplified by a factor much greater than two.   The rest is unknown, just like it is now.

Maybe the next question should be are you ready for really alien contact?

Thoughts which I believe to be true . . .

RECENT NEWS:

http://news.yahoo.com/wikipedia-founder-hails-halting-us-piracy-bills-170940167.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/google-anti-sopa-petition.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-blackout-how-many-have-joined-the-fight.html

Today is a black day for the Internet.

And Wikipedia.

I spell the Internet with a capital "I" because it is a force which has changed my life for the better.    I write three blogs about science fiction, futurism and virtual worlds and have an additional business entrepreneur website that helps people who cannot speak, to speak again with a medical app.

The idea that media companies, including record labels, TV networks, movie studios, and book publishers, companies with an interest in fighting piracy of other counterfeit goods, such as beauty-products and pharmaceutical companies should change the Internet to better suit themselves is just repulsive to me on a gut level.   The Internet is changing the world in a positive manner, read your news, towards democracy and freedom of speech.    Don't try to correct the Internet, its doing it's job naturally and very well thank you.

Bringing humanity together in new and brilliant ways.    Piracy is stealing and you should know better. Support open source software instead.   Don't change the Internet for the worse because of a negative influence.    Reject these laws SOPA & PIPA, think again and think differently, think freedom of speech damn it!

The idea that corporate America wants to change it to protect their products is down right evil and that Congress would allow it is contemptuous of the very constitution upon which this country is founded.    Censorship is a bad bad thing, much worse than piracy and even corporate greed.

Think about it, form your own conclusions, you have a free mind still, use it.   If you feel the same way I do, speak up now.    I stand up to defend and support the Internet, for it has given me and others so much in return, I hope you do too . . .   Strong words for difficult times, just so you know what side I'm on.

A number of videos around this post do not necessarily represent my views, but support my conclusion that SOPA and PIPA need to be rejected now.    Do something, use the Internet to contact your Congressman.

Conway's Game of Life (Run Java for viewing patterns)

VirtualGOD Michael Blade takes you on a tour of Viradu. "I can also fly . . . hah . . . being the VirtualGOD that I am." Quote -Michael Blade, 2012.

Understand I do not claim to have miraculous powers outside of my virtual world Viradu . . . I just said that kind of spontaneously, in the adhoc video, my world is very imperfect as you can see.

Everything in the world is copyright "Fair Use", since it is a "sci-fi themed world" and there is no intent to imply religious belief or question, or challenge any belief system what so ever. SO just let that one be.

Extreme Futurist Fest from H+ Worldwide on Vimeo

Source: LA Weekly

???????Does this make sense?????????? =>By 2050 the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion, 34 percent higher than today. Nearly all of this population increase will occur in developing countries. Urbanization will continue at an accelerated pace, and about 70 percent of the world’s population will be urban (compared to 49 percent today). Income levels will be many multiples of what they are now. In order to feed this larger, more urban and richer population, food production (net of food used for biofuels) must increase by 70 percent. Annual cereal production will need to rise to about 3 billion tonnes from 2.1 billion today and annual meat production will need to rise by over 200 million tonnes to reach 470 million tonnes.

This is a brilliant video, I included it for the questions it poses: however there is this possibility that we are all high-order beings existing outside this deterministic reality in a infinity multitude of parallel realities in which it is possible to think freely across them. As a result you may become insane or at least confused because of the inconsistent histories! You might even experience lapses in continuity until things equalize or backward propygate. Certainly one possibility, though unprovable unless you have personally experienced it and retain memory of the transistional jump. I notice word spellings keep changing ;-). Thank god for spell checkers, but sometimes I don't care . . .

Science Summary for 2011