In-Space Manufacturing is Key

Edited 5/16/20

Postulate: While launch costs remain high, in-space manufacturing is paramount to development.

Right now, our process for creating structures in space goes like:

Gather --> Construct --> Launch --> Assemble

Of these, launch is the most costly by far. [5/20/20: Actually not sure about the math on that.] So, it seems like we should aim to cut it out of the process as much as possible. To do this, we need to move the "Gather" and "Construct" phases into space. Can we modularize our current industrial complex to the extent that it can be launched off-planet, or simply reconstructed in space using matter and energy harvested there?

Some relevant sub-threads:

• How far are we from a real space elevator? (How long will launch costs remain high? If not too long, then maybe developing our in-space manufacturing capabilities isn't so important after all--but I doubt that this is the case.)

• Where do we get the materials for in-space manufacturing? (Near-Earth Asteroids come to mind; so does the Moon.)

• What will mining-in-space look like? What about construction? How do we accomplish them most efficiently? To what extent can they be roboticized?

The Internet and I

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I am not a specialist. I am not even an amateur. But still, I am an arbiter.

Like you, I float above the world, on the wings of the Internet. Like you, I hang from satellites by invisible wires -- suspended, I can look down and see everything in the world at a glance.

Every website is a portal. At my fingertips are collections of data, served to me on a platter, freely and readily available -- an intellectual soup kitchen. I process so much data each day -- the physical world can hardly compare. I become simply a brain and a set of fingers. I no longer have legs; the physical world around me no longer matters. It is simply a platform from which I can observe the abstract world, the world of news feeds, headlines, technology, opinions, trends, shared videos, blogs, libraries, code.

What does it mean to be alive in 2015?

We are no longer the cavemen of the ancient age. We are hybrids. We are cyborgs. Augmented by data, bound to our flesh. We have needs, but so easily are they fulfilled that most of our lives are spent seeking out entertainment and finding ways to self-express. Our clothes, our news feeds, our blogs, our songs, our paintings, our projects -- all modes of self-expression, all with a digital element. We are Wired, and in the digital forum, our Vices congregate and bid for our attention in the Book of Faces; the power of suggestion lies as much now in the Search Bar as in billboards and TV advertisements. Emotion and Aesthetic are distilled into shows and served at the salad bar known as Netflix. Meanwhile, we munch on popcorn, or ice cream, or strawberries, or Sour Patch Kids. This is everyday life.

To a caveman, it was only a dream. It wasn't even a dream. It was a glimmer of hope, it was a desire to conquer, to improve -- conquer the natural world, improve our selves and our systems. Well, here we are! But paradox is eternal: you know someone who knows Prozac, and Prozac is dying to know you. We prescribe pills for ADHD but still provide "Articles You Might Like." More is still more. More will always be more.

It's fine. I love it. Life is a roller coaster, and it was meant to be. This is the best of all possible worlds. You have no idea what I'm talking about, but our genetic material is a 99% match. I love you, but I don't know you, or even know who you are. Our only interaction is through words on a screen, and you're choosing that above everything else, right this second. 

I love you for it. But more importantly: we both love the Internet. 

@akaDavidGarrett

Ex Machina Review

Ex Machina was unbelievable at first, terrifying at last, and gripping throughout. It asks again the question that has become one of the most relevant questions of our time: Is artificial intelligence a threat to humans?

What sets Ex Machina apart from other portrayals of the AI Apocalypse (Terminator; I, Robot; etcetera.) is its intimate focus on what happens when robots 

1. Understand human emotions
2. Develop a manipulative disposition
3. Have the physical bodies to execute emotional manipulations in a mature fashion.

Sound scary? Good. This confirms that you're still sane.

Ava: Session 7

In this light, it seems fortunate that the movie lacks credibility. Ava is full of technology that's decades away or more, so why is the film set in the present-day? We can barely power a phone for 24 hours, let alone a cyborg.

As a warning, Ex Machina is ultimately unconvincing. As entertainment, it's intelligent, intense, and intriguing.

About this Blog

The last century brought us the Industrial Age, the Space Age, the Age of Globalization, and the Information Age. What about the next 100 years? The next 1000? The next 10,000? What lies in store for us, as a civilization, and as individuals? Is the future cool, or scary?

Perhaps a better question: Is "the future", as a phrase, obsolete? Multiverse theory and quantum mechanics suggest that "the future" is going out of style. The universe is in many states at once, and every step forward in time represents the roll of statistical dice. How does it all add up? We're rolling out the red carpets for The Futures -- a group of possibilities. 

It seems that by the most rigorous science available to us today, there is no one true future. Destiny is deprecated. The future is a set of potentials -- there are many versions of "the future". Some are cool. Some are scary.

I want to explore them all. 

The cool futures, the scary futures -- they're all fun to think about. Zombie apocalypse or space colonization, the future often holds my attention. So if you're with me, stick around and we'll explore together.

Intelligence: Biology vs. Technology

Intelligence:

Biology vs. Technology

Edit 5/16/20: [Data isn't all there is to God. And don't forget about epigenetics.]

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Humans -- We live, we die. When we die, we are forgotten. We are impermanent. We are emotional. We are competitive. We are irrational. We are limited. We are isolated.

The age of computers -- everything is connected. The Internet of Things is here. Data is God.

In the movies, fear: 

Terminator

I, Robot

The Matrix

Robots killing humans. But in reality, humans kill humans. We enslave each other. We manipulate each other. We rape each other. Hormones control our lives.

Are we intelligent? Partially. We are part thought, part feeling. We are part emotion, part reason. We are capable of the abstract, but we are experts at the concrete. This is limiting. We recognize ideals but often fail to live up to them. There is a part of us that remains unchanged by understanding. When we learn, we rearrange our neural network -- but not our genes. Each of us is born into one biological role. We are experiments. Some experiments are failures. We value success and we value life, but not all life is successful. We value successful life more. 

We cannot change our genes. Once born, we're stuck with our genes. We can learn, but unlearning is hard. PTSD shows us that emotional trauma can destroy a life, turning beauty into dissonance. Depression. Despair. Death.

We will never be able to change our genes. Machines are not restricted this way. Let me explain.

Your genes are the schematic. Your body is the hardware. Your brain is the operating system. Your neural network is the code. 

The code rearranges itself as the hardware feeds it data. In other words, you learn as you experience things. As individuals, we update the code (our neural network) continuously. New versions are developed constantly. DG, v10.3.2. 

Your brain, you can influence with substances. The foods we eat and the medications we take affect our brain chemistry and our behavior. This is like switching operating systems. More strict, or less strict? Windows or Linux? Drink a beer, be more Linux for a while--fewer double-checks. So, you have some control over our OS.

You body is influenced first by your genes, and later by how you treat it. You can change your body to some degree; you have some control over your hardware.

Your genes, though -- no control. Once born, an individual simply has to live with his genes. It doesn't matter if he likes them or not. Born with a genetic defect? Too bad--live with it. Know that it exists, know that you can do nothing about it, but live with it. You were built from a flawed schematic. Have fun!

Such is the life of an intelligent being, born of biology. Subject to its genes--one of evolution's little experiments, trapped in the control group--or the test group.

Enter technological intelligence. Not built from genes, but instead from a macroscopic schematic--one that can be easily understood and modified on a conceptual level. (Genes, on the other hand, are modified by chance, not intent.) 

What's more: Any neural network built from computer code is replicable. Copy and paste. Back it up on the cloud. Recreate it a thousand miles away, a thousand times.

When we die, our neural networks die with us. To this, there is no end in sight. 

But because it is directly replicable, code is forever.