Sci-Fi Author Roger Williams at SpaceTimeMind

One of the projects I've been highly absorbed in lately is the new podcast and video series, SpaceTimeMind, that I'm co-hosting with Richard Brown. There's a lot of overlap in themes between SpaceTimeMind and the Alternate Minds project. See, for instance, our 5th episode, Transhumanism and Existentialism. Especially pertinent is our latest installment, our interview with Roger Williams, author of The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect (discussed previously here and here).

Alien Species Wiki - Aliens, UFOs, Space aliens

Alien Species Wiki - Aliens, UFOs, Space aliens

Post-singularity and transhumanist fiction recommendations

http://www.digitalkingdom.org/robin/tiki-index.php?page=Post-Singularity+And+Transhumanist+Fiction+I've+Enjoyed

ET sensoria and ET cogitations

Dear Alternate Minds Readers,

For a philosophy and sci fi course I'm piloting spring semester, I'm seeking recommendations of sci fi, preferably short, that depicts either extraterrestrial cognition or extraterrestrial phenomenology.

What's good? Whatchoogot?

Cheers,

Pete

Inventions and Ideas from Science Fiction Books and Movies at Technovelgy.com

Inventions and Ideas from Science Fiction Books and Movies at Technovelgy.com

Explore the inventions, technology and ideas of science fiction writers at Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) - over 2,200 are available. Use the Timeline of Science Fiction Invention or the alphabeticGlossary of Science Fiction Technology to see them all, look for the category that interests you, or browse by favorite author / book. Browse more than 3,700 Science Fiction in the News articles.

Economics of Science Fiction

Robin Hanson's Economics of Science Fiction:

"This is economic analysis of the sorts of assumptions typically explored in science fiction. It is distinguished from the typical hard science fiction analysis by using the tools of professional economics, rather than the intuitive social science of the typical engineer. And it is distinguished from most economics by taking seriously the idea that we can now envision the outlines of new technologies which may have dramatic impacts on our society."

ht: Thanks, Tim Czech, for bringing this to my attention.

Stranger than Truth: Top Ten Best Philosophical Science Fiction Stories

Stranger than Truth: Top Ten Best Philosophical Science Fiction Stories
Pretty sure this is not what my own top 10 would look like, but good food for thought nonetheless. NOM NOM!

Susan Schneider on Future Brains

Quotes:

Susan Schneider on Future Brains

In this video, Susan Schneider, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, discusses "Future Brains: How Might Our Great-Great-Grandchildren Think (and Will They Still Be Human?)."

This message was sent to you by petemandik via Diigo

Philosophical Science-Fiction Stories: A Preliminary List

Philosophical Science-Fiction Stories: A Preliminary List

> http://blog.kennypearce.net/archives/science-fiction/philosophical_science-fiction.html
>

Shape of Broad Minds

The graphical representation of minds is difficult, thus do many designers of cognitive science and philosophy of mind book covers resort to the beaten-to-death motif of bald-dude's-head. Excessively difficult, then, is the graphical representation of alternate minds. The difficulty is sometimes overcome, however. Witness the following super cool album cover art for Shape of Broad Minds: Craft of The Lost Art.

Additional images from and info on the album are can be found at the following post at sleevage.com: Shape of Broad Minds: Craft of The Lost Art

Accelerando

I just finished reading Accelerando by Charles Stross today. My two word mini review is: Wow, damn. Slightly longer: I'd have to rank this up there with Sterling's Schismatrix, Stephenson's Snow Crash, Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep, and Egan's Diaspora as far mind-bending idea-saturation goes. This is a depiction of a post-singularity/post-human future thoroughly informed by contemporary experience with internet and related technologies. Stross also demonstrates quite a bit of familiarity with philosophy of mind, especially Dennett's (the Dennettian notions of zimboes and Cartesian theaters get put to work). (There's quite a bit of Clark/Chalmers extended mind stuff, too.)

It will take me a while to fully digest all of Stross's ideas relevant to the Alternate Minds project, (e.g. his treatment of group minds and virtual minds) but I'm especially impressed right now with his depiction of transcendent intelligences and the threat they pose to the enhanced-but-still-human post-humans (and the development of what Stross calls "cognitive anti-bodies" and what I call "anti-minds").

Links: Accelerando @ wikipedia; Accelerando Technical Companion @ wikibooks

Alternate Minds Project Overview

The aim of the Alternate Minds Project is to explore science fictional permutations of the concept of mind (and related concepts such as intelligence, perception, selfhood). By entertaining speculative scenarios wherein the target concepts are bent almost beyond recognition, we gain insights into the nature of mind and catch glimpses of new possibilities. Initial investigations will be clustered around seven key themes.

1. Virtual Minds are typically thought of as embedded in simulated environments and the minds themselves may be artificial. One intriguing question is whether there can be naturally occurring instances of virtual minds, or whether there must always be an artificial component that defines their virtuality.

2. Infinite Minds are minds infinite in one or more capacities, such as infinite intelligence, infinite perceptual acuity, or infinite will power. Of our various mental capacities that come in degrees, for which, if any, does it make sense to imagine versions that are infinite? Can we coherently conceive of, for example, a being with infinite will-power?

3. Group Minds are minds with proper parts that are themselves minds. Are any of our minds already proper parts of group minds? If there were group minds in our midst, how would we know?

4. Time-traveling Minds either literally move through time in non-standard ways or employ high degrees of computational power to simulate target events. What cognitive/computational advantages are there to intelligent systems that harness literal time-travel? From a computational point of view, what are the relative resource costs of literal versus simulated time-travel?

5. Hyper-spatial Minds: One of the most fun things to think about in contemplating minds inhabiting spaces of dimension n>3 are questions concerning the perceptual phenomenology of seeing (feeling, etc.) hyperspatial objects. What is it like to have four- (or five- or six-) dimensional eyes? In addition to these questions concerning hyperspatial sensory input, are interesting questions of output. What is it like to move a body though a hyperspatial manifold? Last, but not least, are questions concerning the computational processes mediating between inputs and outputs. What advantages and obstacles are presented to circuit-engineering a cognitive architecture where there are extra dimensions in which to wire things up.

6. Quantum Minds: The dominant approaches in contemporary cognitive science deal with minds within a classical physical framework. But what would consciousness and cognition be like if non-classical quantum principles played major roles in implementation. What would it be like to be an AI implemented on a quantum computer? What would it be like to be small enough or perceptually sensitive enough to directly perceive events occurring on quantum scales?

7. Anti-Minds are non-sapient, non-sentient systems with the capability to detect and destroy minds. They are either the ultimate evil or the ultimate protection against the dangerous effects of technologically advanced civilizations. One of the core questions raised in contemplating anti-minds is whether there can exist non-intelligent mechanisms for the detection of intelligence. Such mechanisms could be crucial in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence.