I'm marathoning Ghost in a Shell: Stand Alone Complex today for use in an upcoming paper, and a couple of ideas have popped up in the idea of personhood.
The first is how much language in integral to our understanding of reality. All of human ideas, culture and technology are conveyed to one another through this medium, but how does this communication protocol influence the ideas themselves.
Secondly, from the things the Tachikoma have said, the confines of living in our singular bodies makes our experience completely different from the Tachikoma's experience. They share a collective memory pool, while we have solitary pools. The way they think and understand the world ought to be quite alien from our interpretation of it.
These ideas must be explored.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Another Dream, this one more awesome
It's four in the morning, but I've just had this most awesome dream, that I hope to continue when I go back to bed, but if I don't write it down, I will forget it all.
First some quick plot points, so that I can remember them: There's a war between the elves and the dwarves, and I've been involved in the past (a recurring dream bit). The DePaul University American Studies spy department recruits me to play a hand in the war but I want to play it differently. And, as part of a class assignment, I decide to write on my efforts to stop the war.
The only point I can remember about the previous series battles over control of very specific places, are beautiful Minnesota-esque (I say this only because they remind me of a park that I once biked through on the Minnesota River) parks and monstrous fungal dwelled underground bases. And that the dwarves decimated the elves. Very pretty, very surreal.
Then the current dream starts. I enter a McDonald's in some Norse ski village (another recurring element), and am there approached by a tall, thin, blond woman, who despite being tall, thin and blond is quite in reality an agent for the dwarves, who has come to tell me that the next big struggle between the two Fae communities is about to break rather soon, and that I'm going to play a part in the horrific and bloody war in the next upcoming battle at some school for witchcraft and wizardry (not that one). I remembering the way the last one played out, and I do not want in on that once more, and so I try to run away.
I return to my regular life, and on a lunch outing with some friends and my fiancée, I am trapped and drugged, despite my understanding what was happening and my efforts to stop it, by one Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Gardner in TV's Alias). I find myself revived some thirty feet away from where I had been tagged, in some comic relief style shouting and quick camera pans to the party I had been with still unawares of my absence. Sydney was wondering quite apprehensively why someone I was with was part of her unit, and I had to explain that we were just friends. Sydney informs me that I will be involved once again in the upcoming travesty, and that the DePaul University American Studies Cultural Espionage program (only with a cooler name and acronym) wants me to do all that I can to ensure that the Elves win this battle. I have my own reservations, especially that I want neither side to win, but think that the two should share their important cultural geographic points, neither having sole say in each realm. I reluctantly agree, though I have my own agenda, not theirs. I must start close to immediately, and I cannot tell my fiancée that I must leave. So I had to escape from their sight, and surreptitiously and tearily tell via iPod classic, my fiancée that I love her but that I have to leave.
The next scene, I am in the American Studies department office, approaching the receptionist, inquiring about the location of a class in which I am. Whilst asking, I see that the class is located in a favorèd professor's office. The professor asks me if I had written the proposal for the ethnographic report that I would be creating for that class. I tell her no, but that I must talk with her about that matter. We go, though a few of my friends follow, and I must shoo them off so that we might talk privately. I explain my situation, as well as my position on the stance, and that I need to write my report on my efforts to stop the war and bring peace. She allows this, and I am on my way.
Here the dream ends.
I am excited to continue this saga, either in proper dreaming, or in some imaginative narration of the affairs.
First some quick plot points, so that I can remember them: There's a war between the elves and the dwarves, and I've been involved in the past (a recurring dream bit). The DePaul University American Studies spy department recruits me to play a hand in the war but I want to play it differently. And, as part of a class assignment, I decide to write on my efforts to stop the war.
The only point I can remember about the previous series battles over control of very specific places, are beautiful Minnesota-esque (I say this only because they remind me of a park that I once biked through on the Minnesota River) parks and monstrous fungal dwelled underground bases. And that the dwarves decimated the elves. Very pretty, very surreal.
Then the current dream starts. I enter a McDonald's in some Norse ski village (another recurring element), and am there approached by a tall, thin, blond woman, who despite being tall, thin and blond is quite in reality an agent for the dwarves, who has come to tell me that the next big struggle between the two Fae communities is about to break rather soon, and that I'm going to play a part in the horrific and bloody war in the next upcoming battle at some school for witchcraft and wizardry (not that one). I remembering the way the last one played out, and I do not want in on that once more, and so I try to run away.
I return to my regular life, and on a lunch outing with some friends and my fiancée, I am trapped and drugged, despite my understanding what was happening and my efforts to stop it, by one Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Gardner in TV's Alias). I find myself revived some thirty feet away from where I had been tagged, in some comic relief style shouting and quick camera pans to the party I had been with still unawares of my absence. Sydney was wondering quite apprehensively why someone I was with was part of her unit, and I had to explain that we were just friends. Sydney informs me that I will be involved once again in the upcoming travesty, and that the DePaul University American Studies Cultural Espionage program (only with a cooler name and acronym) wants me to do all that I can to ensure that the Elves win this battle. I have my own reservations, especially that I want neither side to win, but think that the two should share their important cultural geographic points, neither having sole say in each realm. I reluctantly agree, though I have my own agenda, not theirs. I must start close to immediately, and I cannot tell my fiancée that I must leave. So I had to escape from their sight, and surreptitiously and tearily tell via iPod classic, my fiancée that I love her but that I have to leave.
The next scene, I am in the American Studies department office, approaching the receptionist, inquiring about the location of a class in which I am. Whilst asking, I see that the class is located in a favorèd professor's office. The professor asks me if I had written the proposal for the ethnographic report that I would be creating for that class. I tell her no, but that I must talk with her about that matter. We go, though a few of my friends follow, and I must shoo them off so that we might talk privately. I explain my situation, as well as my position on the stance, and that I need to write my report on my efforts to stop the war and bring peace. She allows this, and I am on my way.
Here the dream ends.
I am excited to continue this saga, either in proper dreaming, or in some imaginative narration of the affairs.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
On a Biological Part of Personhood
I'm currently bothered by how biology shapes us, and how it effects our personhood. Considering the manner in which biology works, it seems that life is just a medium for which DNA propagates itself. Our germ line happens to have benefited from both the creation of abstract intelligence and highly social behavior; though if mindless cannibalism would have contributed more to its continuance, exactly that might have happened. As far as biology is concerned, all that matters is that we live long enough to produe another generation of creatures that will perfrom exactly that function.
Being derived by biological evolutionary means, our behavior is in part dictated by these biologies. Perhaps the largest is the drive to couple and produce offspring, followed closely by eating and defecation. These have even informed culture to a large degree, though the last may not seem so (perhaps a discussion of the culture of defecation might be interesting). And because of these, we spend considerable energy following these, i.e. being animal, as opposed to contributing to the sum of the universe's culture and knowledge, being people. The latter, course, can be informed by the previous, and has produced a mass amount of work culturally interesting, but should be known as being human, and can only be understood from the context our particular animal-person.
Whilst these biologies may contribute to our humanhood, personhood, they may also detract. The upkeep needed to maintain ourselves as biological beings is of such a degree that only the wealthiest of persons in the world, which it seems would include myself (and as such fills me with guilt), get the opportunity to contribute considerably, or even insignificantly, to the canon of personhood.
Being derived by biological evolutionary means, our behavior is in part dictated by these biologies. Perhaps the largest is the drive to couple and produce offspring, followed closely by eating and defecation. These have even informed culture to a large degree, though the last may not seem so (perhaps a discussion of the culture of defecation might be interesting). And because of these, we spend considerable energy following these, i.e. being animal, as opposed to contributing to the sum of the universe's culture and knowledge, being people. The latter, course, can be informed by the previous, and has produced a mass amount of work culturally interesting, but should be known as being human, and can only be understood from the context our particular animal-person.
Whilst these biologies may contribute to our humanhood, personhood, they may also detract. The upkeep needed to maintain ourselves as biological beings is of such a degree that only the wealthiest of persons in the world, which it seems would include myself (and as such fills me with guilt), get the opportunity to contribute considerably, or even insignificantly, to the canon of personhood.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
On the genera Pan and Homo
I always read things on the internet. It seems to be the major constituent of my leisure. Two articles from this week are the progenitors of this post. One is directly, this on the complexity of culture and astronomy displayed by the Lascaux cave paintings (from Environmental Graffiti) . The second, PZ Myers' take on the Ardipithecus ramidus fossil and its media coverage, led to Carl Zimmer's discussion on the same fossil, as well as the Wikipedia articles on the genus Pan, great ape language and Kanzi, the bonobo. These have me wondering when we became people.
It is thought that we became civilization with the Agricultural Revolution some ten thousand years ago. But the Lascaux paintings,a thoroughly prehistoric work, suggest otherwise. We had already devoted much of our intellectual capacity on star gazing, religion and artistic media and technique, at least another five thousand years earlier. Culture has obviously been thriving for much longer than history, and perhaps may have even existed on a geological scale.
However, culture isn't shared amongst our Homini brethren, though a multitude of other traits are. Specifically, language comprehension. Studies have been done for ages on Gorillas, Chimps and Bonobos, and a lot of them are conservatively inconclusive. However, as evidenced by Kanzi, it is possible for Bonobos who have learned language through immersion to comprehend sentences they have never heard uttered before, a hallmark of language comprehension. Similarly, communication in apes activates similar regions in our brain that we have deemed the language centers in humans.
I would hypothesize that our preexisting social brain centers were developed as our vocal organs developed; we utilized our new organs for communication and selection drove the development of language and the organs themselves.
Our last common ancestor with the genus Pan was some seven million years ago. Culture must have arisen somewhere during that time, but it might be possible that we might've been cultured beings for millions of years now. Because of the complex nature of language, it could be hypothesized that as language increased in complexity, the memes of culture could be more easily passed from one generation to the next. (Interestingly, complex learned behavior, culture, as also been shown to exist in Orca lineages, suggesting a second natural occurrence of culture on Earth. If it happened twice on Earth, it would easily happen else where in the universe, given the existence of intelligent life).
It seems plainly obvious—and sillily self-evident now—that people arise fairly early, and far before technology. We think that people have only existed since the dawn of technology, but we might have existed for nearly twice that amount of time, and perhaps far more.
I am beginning to feel that personhood has varying degrees, and that is the underlying proplem with the ethics of personhood.
It is thought that we became civilization with the Agricultural Revolution some ten thousand years ago. But the Lascaux paintings,a thoroughly prehistoric work, suggest otherwise. We had already devoted much of our intellectual capacity on star gazing, religion and artistic media and technique, at least another five thousand years earlier. Culture has obviously been thriving for much longer than history, and perhaps may have even existed on a geological scale.
However, culture isn't shared amongst our Homini brethren, though a multitude of other traits are. Specifically, language comprehension. Studies have been done for ages on Gorillas, Chimps and Bonobos, and a lot of them are conservatively inconclusive. However, as evidenced by Kanzi, it is possible for Bonobos who have learned language through immersion to comprehend sentences they have never heard uttered before, a hallmark of language comprehension. Similarly, communication in apes activates similar regions in our brain that we have deemed the language centers in humans.
I would hypothesize that our preexisting social brain centers were developed as our vocal organs developed; we utilized our new organs for communication and selection drove the development of language and the organs themselves.
Our last common ancestor with the genus Pan was some seven million years ago. Culture must have arisen somewhere during that time, but it might be possible that we might've been cultured beings for millions of years now. Because of the complex nature of language, it could be hypothesized that as language increased in complexity, the memes of culture could be more easily passed from one generation to the next. (Interestingly, complex learned behavior, culture, as also been shown to exist in Orca lineages, suggesting a second natural occurrence of culture on Earth. If it happened twice on Earth, it would easily happen else where in the universe, given the existence of intelligent life).
It seems plainly obvious—and sillily self-evident now—that people arise fairly early, and far before technology. We think that people have only existed since the dawn of technology, but we might have existed for nearly twice that amount of time, and perhaps far more.
I am beginning to feel that personhood has varying degrees, and that is the underlying proplem with the ethics of personhood.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
On the Societal Values of Those With Artificial Bodies
Surrogates comes out on Friday, though I need to find some time to go see it. However pondering the world of Surrogates, where one gets to have an artificial body stand in for them.
The first idea which came to mind was the world of professional sports. It would be drastically different from today if it still existed. Today's professional sports are already plagued by bodies that are medically artificial, through the use of performance enhancing drugs, but when you replace that body with a robot, then you might as well give up any semblance that the sport is a display of natural human abilities. I'm sure extreme sports will become more popular, as the threat of dying has been removed (it might also loose it's appeal). But with professional sports, anyone and their mom with the proper amount of money can buy a body and their way into the league.
Which brings up a second point. Similar to the world of Gattaca, class structures will be built around who has the best surrogate. At first one could claim that the playing field would be leveled, but those with the proper means can create the best bodies that are allowable by technology. The rich would have the more desirable bodies and the poor would get the remainder.
And lastly, if we eschew physical human contact altogether, how on Earth are we to reproduce and raise our children. Sex would be completely safe and non-committal, and there would be no pregnancies. And even if children are borne, they have to grow, mentally, and primarily physically before that they could assume a surrogate body to stand in for them in the real world. The idea of pedagogy is a very complicated one and would need more time than I currently have to explore.
The first idea which came to mind was the world of professional sports. It would be drastically different from today if it still existed. Today's professional sports are already plagued by bodies that are medically artificial, through the use of performance enhancing drugs, but when you replace that body with a robot, then you might as well give up any semblance that the sport is a display of natural human abilities. I'm sure extreme sports will become more popular, as the threat of dying has been removed (it might also loose it's appeal). But with professional sports, anyone and their mom with the proper amount of money can buy a body and their way into the league.
Which brings up a second point. Similar to the world of Gattaca, class structures will be built around who has the best surrogate. At first one could claim that the playing field would be leveled, but those with the proper means can create the best bodies that are allowable by technology. The rich would have the more desirable bodies and the poor would get the remainder.
And lastly, if we eschew physical human contact altogether, how on Earth are we to reproduce and raise our children. Sex would be completely safe and non-committal, and there would be no pregnancies. And even if children are borne, they have to grow, mentally, and primarily physically before that they could assume a surrogate body to stand in for them in the real world. The idea of pedagogy is a very complicated one and would need more time than I currently have to explore.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
9 gets half that out of ten
If you do not want to be spoiled for the movie 9 yet do not read this post.
As a science fiction film, 9 fell flat. It was fun and all, but I, in my scientific humanism, atheism whatnot, got turned off at the mention of a Human soul.
Spoilers Spoilers Spoilers!
You have been warned:
The setting of this movie is your typical post robot induced apocalypse. It features prominently a barren waste land, devoid of life. From the various flash backs and what-nots in the story you learn that human made robots, created by a scientist who is voiced by Alan Oppenheimer, third cousin to J Robert Oppenheimer of atomic bomb fame, turned against humanity and destroyed all life using some gas.
The only reason cited in the movie for the robots' turn against humanity is that the machine brain was created from human intellect, but didn't possess a human soul. This is where I call frelnik. It's not souls I have a problem with. It's the objectification of it, literally as if it is a thing to be had, and that it's only applicable to Humans. As I understand it, the soul is a manifestation of the processes which make us people, similar to how the consciousness is a manifestation of the processes of the brain.
This sticks a bad taste in my mouth similar to racism. Whereas Black people are only suited to labor because they were born inferior, robots are only suited to the destruction of humanity because they lack the inherent goodness of Human beings. Mind you it is Humans which invented the whole war thing, and the mass killings of other Humans. In The Matrix when the robots subjugated Humans, it was because Humans repeatedly denied their status as people, and equal participants in the world. Other instances in movies where the robots destroy, it's because they've been provoked or that through some part of their programming was faulty compared to the ethics of humans, not from mere lack of a soul.
This movie seems irresponsible in theme, given the rich history of other robots in science fiction. It is not a movie that I'll be showing my kids.
And don't get me started on how the rain starts once parts of the scientist's soul escapes into the sky, and how that rain is full of green life despite the death of all living stuffs. Ugh..
As a science fiction film, 9 fell flat. It was fun and all, but I, in my scientific humanism, atheism whatnot, got turned off at the mention of a Human soul.
Spoilers Spoilers Spoilers!
You have been warned:
The setting of this movie is your typical post robot induced apocalypse. It features prominently a barren waste land, devoid of life. From the various flash backs and what-nots in the story you learn that human made robots, created by a scientist who is voiced by Alan Oppenheimer, third cousin to J Robert Oppenheimer of atomic bomb fame, turned against humanity and destroyed all life using some gas.
The only reason cited in the movie for the robots' turn against humanity is that the machine brain was created from human intellect, but didn't possess a human soul. This is where I call frelnik. It's not souls I have a problem with. It's the objectification of it, literally as if it is a thing to be had, and that it's only applicable to Humans. As I understand it, the soul is a manifestation of the processes which make us people, similar to how the consciousness is a manifestation of the processes of the brain.
This sticks a bad taste in my mouth similar to racism. Whereas Black people are only suited to labor because they were born inferior, robots are only suited to the destruction of humanity because they lack the inherent goodness of Human beings. Mind you it is Humans which invented the whole war thing, and the mass killings of other Humans. In The Matrix when the robots subjugated Humans, it was because Humans repeatedly denied their status as people, and equal participants in the world. Other instances in movies where the robots destroy, it's because they've been provoked or that through some part of their programming was faulty compared to the ethics of humans, not from mere lack of a soul.
This movie seems irresponsible in theme, given the rich history of other robots in science fiction. It is not a movie that I'll be showing my kids.
And don't get me started on how the rain starts once parts of the scientist's soul escapes into the sky, and how that rain is full of green life despite the death of all living stuffs. Ugh..
Monday, September 14, 2009
A weïrd dream with a recurring segment
I've had this recurring dream lately, and it's pretty much The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. People are trying to kill me and replace me with a creepier less personable counterpart.
Last night's version was much more interesting. I was visiting my parents with Sums, my fiancée, in Minnesota and we went to go get the train tickets. We go to get our train tickets to go back home to Chicago the next day, and I some how wind up in the train, though I'm not ticketed for that ride. So I get off at the next stop, and ride a very long winding escalator through the station, waving to Sums at her desk at work, when I realize that I left my bag on the train. So, once I get to the bottom, I rush up to the top, get on the train and fail to find my bag before the doors close and I fall back asleep. I wake up barefoot in the barn from Resident Evil 4 where you torch the hangy evil man, near Lacrosse, Wisconsin, and take a step outside. Here I find that it's in 1800's reenactment mode, and I hurry to find some buses out of there. I sit next to a young girl on the bus and I find myself at her house. After taking a pee and looking at her weïrd shaped door, I decide that I need to get out of the house before her parents discover that I had been there alone with her, as to not get shot. (All in the while I've been trying to get to a place where my parents can pick me up)
This is when the body snatchers thing starts. I see her parents having a good time on the lawn mower, and make a dash in the other direction. Then I bump into a more bloody version of her father, and then it comes to me that the people I know and care about are being replaced by aliens. Copy-father sees me and starts running after me, and I bolt. He catches up and we tumble into a ditch.
Now the dream enters abstract mode, on the other side of the ditch, vertically, there's a red ball of shiny. Thinking that it's the infamous red matter of the new Star Trek movie, the copy-father has a speech bubble that says, oh, that's heavy. We then tumble into the ditch and fuse with the ball, which becomes a red and flesh colored swirl. The red part, which is also the copy-father, leaves goes into a Terry Gilliam-esque animation machine and comes out as a rather thin, short, saggy rectangle. Then the fleshy ball, me, goes through the machine, and comes out thick, organic, complex, long and rather mushroomy. Of course I identify the phallic imagery, and know that because I'm a real human, I'll make the better lover in bed. During the animated portion, scenes of really awesome freaks from the Jerry Springer Show are spliced in.
I've only identified the body-snatchers chase theme as a recurring element of the dream. I wonder however, if it means something.
Last night's version was much more interesting. I was visiting my parents with Sums, my fiancée, in Minnesota and we went to go get the train tickets. We go to get our train tickets to go back home to Chicago the next day, and I some how wind up in the train, though I'm not ticketed for that ride. So I get off at the next stop, and ride a very long winding escalator through the station, waving to Sums at her desk at work, when I realize that I left my bag on the train. So, once I get to the bottom, I rush up to the top, get on the train and fail to find my bag before the doors close and I fall back asleep. I wake up barefoot in the barn from Resident Evil 4 where you torch the hangy evil man, near Lacrosse, Wisconsin, and take a step outside. Here I find that it's in 1800's reenactment mode, and I hurry to find some buses out of there. I sit next to a young girl on the bus and I find myself at her house. After taking a pee and looking at her weïrd shaped door, I decide that I need to get out of the house before her parents discover that I had been there alone with her, as to not get shot. (All in the while I've been trying to get to a place where my parents can pick me up)
This is when the body snatchers thing starts. I see her parents having a good time on the lawn mower, and make a dash in the other direction. Then I bump into a more bloody version of her father, and then it comes to me that the people I know and care about are being replaced by aliens. Copy-father sees me and starts running after me, and I bolt. He catches up and we tumble into a ditch.
Now the dream enters abstract mode, on the other side of the ditch, vertically, there's a red ball of shiny. Thinking that it's the infamous red matter of the new Star Trek movie, the copy-father has a speech bubble that says, oh, that's heavy. We then tumble into the ditch and fuse with the ball, which becomes a red and flesh colored swirl. The red part, which is also the copy-father, leaves goes into a Terry Gilliam-esque animation machine and comes out as a rather thin, short, saggy rectangle. Then the fleshy ball, me, goes through the machine, and comes out thick, organic, complex, long and rather mushroomy. Of course I identify the phallic imagery, and know that because I'm a real human, I'll make the better lover in bed. During the animated portion, scenes of really awesome freaks from the Jerry Springer Show are spliced in.
I've only identified the body-snatchers chase theme as a recurring element of the dream. I wonder however, if it means something.
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