The End is Nigh

The end of the world, as we know it is coming.

Actually the world as we know it has changed in the last second since you started reading this.

Our propensity to cling to familiar and comforting conceptions of 'what its all about' are the means by which we create our human realities. But the real truth (in my mind , because 'the truth' is always subjective) is that our models of reality are a priori wrong. Close but no cigars.

I have hope for what happens after the end of this world though. The next rebirth will be informed at least, thanks to the communications technologies that have erupted onto the scene. With the drive to bring all the world online, perhaps dialogues will win over fear as the driving force of what is termed reality'.

To whit: I believe in the very near future Artificial Intelligence will transform society in ways that could not be imagined presently. I know there are skeptics, but in my own life I have both heard my elders talk of the incredible changes ( ' 5 cent ice cream cones and 10 cent comics') and seen many things change beyond recognition. So the idea of inhuman minds does not seem too far fetched for me.

I started down this path of thinking after one day searching for 'whats coming next in technology' through Google. This led me to Ray Kurzweil and a misbegotten band of positive futurists. The central theme running through the discourse of this band of merry men-cum-machines is THE SINGULARITY, a concept that has multiple definitions and represents more of a zeitgeist or a movement than a single concept. The main thrust however seems to be the empowerment of men ( used in the plural and including women) to overcome all difficulties, be they material, emotional, physical, or otherwise. The main means is through the exponential increase of our cognitive capacity by means of artificial intelligence or augmentation of our biological selves.

While I do have some reservations philosophically about the outcome and the means of getting there, in the end I agree that its a worthwhile goal. Rather than stay here and react as animals to what we consider real, our reality could be shaped by our thought, and more importantly , much more objective thought than the current mess of reactionary existence.

In the end, transcendence. Hopefully positive transcendence, but there are other outcomes. If you have a great attachment to the current world, then enjoy the moment while it lasts. It won't be there forever.

Oops, there it goes...