PINKER

IF WE COULD EVER DUPLICATE THE INFORMATION PROCESSING IN THE HUMAN MIND AS AN ENORMOUS COMPUTER PROGRAM, WOULD A COMPUTER RUNNING THE PROGRAM BE CONCIOUS?

WHAT IF WE TOOK THAT PROGRAM AND TRAINED A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE, SAY, THE POPULATION OF CHINA, TO HOLD IN MIND THE DATA AND ACT OUT THE STEPS? WOULD THERE BE ONE GIGANTIC CONSCIOUSNESS HOVERING OVER CHINA, SEPARATE FROM THE CONSCIOUSNESSES OF THE BILLION INDIVIDUALS? IF THEY WERE IMPLEMENTING THE BRAIN STATE FOR AGONIZING PAIN, WOULD THERE BE SOME ENTITY THAT REALLY WAS IN PAIN, EVEN IF EVERY CITIZEN WAS CHEERFUL AND LIGHT-HEARTED?

SUPPOSE THE VISUAL RECEIVING AREA AT THE BACK OF YOUR BRAIN WAS SURGICALLY SEVERED FROM THE REST AND REMAINED ALIVE IN YOUR SKULL, RECEIVING INPUT FROM THE EYES. BY EVERY BEHAVIORAL MEASURE YOU ARE BLIND. IS THERE A MUTE BUT FULLY AWARE VISUAL CONSCIOUSNESS SEALED OFF IN THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD? WHAT IF IT WAS REMOVED AND KEPT ALIVE IN A DISH?

MIGHT YOUR EXPERIENCE OF RED BE THE SAME AS MY EXPERIENCE OF GREEN? SURE, YOU MIGHT LABEL GRASS AS "GREEN" AND TOMATOES AS "RED," JUST AS I DO, BUT PERHAPS YOU ACTUALLY SEE THE GRASS AS HAVING THE COLOR THAT I WOULD DESCRIBE, IF I WERE IN YOUR SHOES, AS RED.

COULD THERE BE ZOMBIES? THAT IS, COULD THERE BE AN ANDROID RIGGED UP TO ACT AS INTELLIGENTLY AND EMOTIONALLY AS YOU AND ME, BUT IN WHICH THERE IS "NO ONE HOME" WHO IS ACTUALLY FEELING OR SEEING ANYTHING? HOW DO I KNOW YOU'RE NOT A ZOMBIE?

IF SOMEONE COULD DOWNLOAD THE STATE OF MY BRAIN AND DUPLICATE IT IN ANOTHER COLLECTION OF MOLECULES, WOULD IT HAVE MY CONSCIOUSNESS? IF SOMONE DESTROYED THE ORIGINAL, BUT THE DUPLICATE CONTINUED TO LIVE MY LIFE AND THINK MY THOUGHTS AND FEEL MY FEELINGS, WOULD I HAVE BEEN MURDERED? WAS CAPTAIN KIRK SNUFFED OUT AND REPLACED BY A TWIN EVERY TIME HE STEPPED INTO THE TRANSPORTER ROOM?

SURGEONS REPLACE ONE OF YOUR NEURONS WITH A MICROCHIP THAT DUPLICATES ITS INPUT-OUTPUT FUNCTIONS. YOU FEEL AND BEHAVE EXACTLY AS BEFORE. THEN THEY REPLACE A SECOND ONE, AND A THIRD ONE, AND SO ON, UNTIL MORE AND MORE OF YOUR BRAIN BECOMES SILICON. SINCE EACH MICROCHIP DOES EXACTLY WHAT THE NEURON DID, YOUR BEHAVIOR AND MEMORE NEVER CHANGE. DO YOU EVEN NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE? DOES IF FEEL LIKE DYING? IS SOME OTHER CONSCIOUS ENTITY MOVING IN WITH YOU?

STANDARD DEVIATION
IS THE POSITIVE SQUARE
ROOT OF THE MEAN OF
THE SQUARE OF THE
INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES OF THE
TERMS FROM THEIR MEAN

ISRAEL



ROMANIA

BROODING SQUID

OUR UNIVERSE IF VERY COMPLEX
WITH MYSTERIOUS NATURAL LAWS
ACTING ON A SEEMINGLY ENDLESS
MULTIDIMENSIONAL STORYBOARD OF INPUT

JOHN CONWAY (PREVIOUS POST) CREATED A MODEL
OF FIXED DIMENSION
(TWO SPACIAL DIMENSIONS ON A GRID)
AND LIMITED NATURAL LAW
(FOUR SIMPLE RULES)
THAT PLAINLY DETERMINE WETHER A CELL IS ON(LIVE) OR OFF(DEAD)
BASED ON THE EIGHT CELLS SURROUNDING IT

1. ANY LIVE CELL WITH FEWER THAN 2 LIVE NEIGHBORS DIES
2. ANY LIVE CELL WITH GREATER THAN 3 LIVE NEIGHBORS DIES
3. ANY LIVE CELL WITH 2 OR 3 LIVE NEIGHBORS LIVES
4. ANY DEAD CELL WITH EXACTLY 3 LIVE NEIGHBORS BECOMES A LIVE CELL

THE GAME PLAYS ITSELF BASED ON AN INITIAL DESIGNED STATE

THE GAME WAS ORIGINALLY PLAYED OUT ON GRAPH PAPER
BUT WAS SOON ADAPTED BY COMPUTER PROGRAMMERS IN THE 1970S

BELOW IS A .GIF OF SOME 'SPACESHIPS' THAT HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED
REMEMBER THESE ARE SIMPLY INITIAL CONFORMATIONS
SET TO LIFE WITH FOUR SIMPLE RULES

THIS IS JOHN CONWAY LISTENING TO THE FLOATING SPHERE COIL

MORE JOHN CONWAY NEXT TIME VERY EXCITING
1997

FUSELAGE

SCRAP THE FUSELAGE
SPACE IS STUPID ANYWAY

THE SURFACE OF THE FALSE COLOR MOON
CHANGES IN STARLIGHT:

THE FALSE COLOR MOON WILL ARISE
THE FALSE COLOR MOON WILL BRING NEW AURA TO US
THE FALSE COLOR MOON WILL FALL
THE FALSE COLOR MOON WILL BRING NEW AGE
WELCOME, FALSE COLOR MOON
ARISE

EXPLORERS WALK THROUGH MOTH CAVES
WING DUST SPOTS THEIR GLASSES
WHILE THEIR WIVES CARRY GEIGER COUNTERS
CLOSE BEHIND THEM

EXPLORERS FLY UNMANNED SHIPS
THROUGH DEEP QUIET REACHES
TRANSMISSIONS LEAK OUT
AND FIND MEN AT EQUIPMENT

EXPLORERS STUDY BABY BEHAVIOR
IN THEIR FIRST AND INNATE HOURS
BEFORE EXPERIENCE HAS THE CHANCE
TO CHANGE THEM FOREVER

AND EVER
AND EVER
AND EVER
AND EVER
AND EVER
ER
ER
ER
ER
ER

GILBERT & GEORGE

WE



MENTAL



MEET



EMERALD CRUSADE

#BXNMQVP
*********888
CAR-RT
LOT**R-001
#9773300018381921#
D806 MAY 09 SK01

47041
P175

THE WITCHES BESOM

There is reason to think that many alkaloids and other drugs which affect behavior work by being chemically similar to natural small brain proteins, of which the endorphins are one example. Many of these small proteins act on the limbic system and are concerned with our emotional states. It is now possible to manufacture small proteins made of any specified sequence of amino acids. Thus, the time may soon come when a great variety of molecules will be synthesized capable of inducing human emotional states, including extremely rare ones. For example, there is some evidence that atropine - one of the chief active ingredients in hemlock, foxglove, deadly nightshade, and jimson weed - induces the illusion of flying; and indeed such plants seem to have been the principle constituents of unguents self-administered to the genital mucosa by witches in the Middle Ages - who, rather than actually flying as they boasted, were atropine-tripping. But a vivid hallucination of flying is an extremely specific sensation to be conveyed by a relatively simple molecule. Perhaps there are a range of small proteins which will be synthesized and will produce emotional states of a sort never before experienced by human beings. This is one of many potential near-term developments in brain chemistry which hold great promise both for good and evil, depending on the wisdom of those who conduct, control and apply this research.
~Sagan

WITCHES LUBED UP THEIR BROOMSTICKS WITH VAGINAL FLYING TRIP-GEL?

R. STEVIE MOORE
R. STEVIE MOORE
R. STEVIE MOORE



BACK IN TIME
(1986)
(1986)
(1986)

SAGAN

THERE IS NO WAY TO TELL
WHETHER THE PATTERNS EXTRACTED
BY THE RIGHT HEMISPHERE
ARE REAL OR IMAGINED
WITHOUT SUBJECTING THEM TO
LEFT-HEMISPHERE SCRUTINY

ON THE OTHER HAND
MERE CRITICAL THINKING
WITHOUT CREATIVE AND INTUITIVE INSIGHTS
WITHOUT THE SEARCH FOR NEW PATTERNS
IS STERILE AND DOOMED

TO SOLVE COMPLEX PROBLEMS
IN CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES
REQUIRES THE ACTIVITY OF BOTH HEMISPHERES

THE PATH TO THE FUTURE REQUIRES
THE CORPUS COLLOSUM

ANAGRAM
ANAGRAM
ANAGRAM

MOON STARER : ASTRONOMER

DOCILE, AS A MAN TAMED IT : DOMESTICATED ANIMAL

INTENSE URETER IVY : ETERNITY UNIVERSE

I SAY:
"IF THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING,
THEN AM I EXPANDING?"

THEN YOU SAY:
"NO WAY, JOSE. NOT UNTIL THE 'BIG RIP'."

ME:
"WHAT?"

YOU:
"TALK TO ROBERT CALDWELL."

ROBERT CALDWELL:
"WELL, RIGHT NOW YOUR BODY IS STILL GRAVITATIONALLY BOUND. EVENTUALLY THOUGH, AS EXPANSION CONTINUES EXPONENTIALLY, GRAVITY WILL WEAKEN. ABOUT 60 MILLION YEARS BEFORE THE END OF THE UNIVERSE GALAXIES WILL FALL APART. THEN THREE MONTHS FROM THE END OUR SOLAR SYSTEM WILL LOOP OUT. THEN IN THE LAST FEW MINUTES YOU WILL FLY APART, KIT. AFTER THAT YOUR ATOMS."

ME:
"OH. LATER, BOB!"