An existing, ecologically-successful genus of collectively intelligent artificial creatures

An existing, ecologically-successful genus of collectively intelligent artificial creatures Kuipers, Benjamin [pdf]

Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers

Leaving the Matrix: Image found at Colossal Art & Design

Image from Colossal Art & Design blog

The Splintered Mind: Martian Rabbit Superorganisms, Yeah!

The Splintered Mind: Martian Rabbit Superorganisms, Yeah!

The most sophisticated ant colonies (e.g., large leaf cutter colonies) are as intelligent and sophisticated in their behavior as rabbits. If we're going to reject biological chauvinism and continguism (prejudice against discontiguous entities) on behalf of the Martians, why not reject those prejudices on behalf of Earthly superorganisms too? Maybe the colony as a whole has a distinctive, unified stream of conscious experience, of roughly mammal-level intelligence, above and beyond the consciousness of the individual ants (if individual ants even do have individual consciousness).

Why we think there's a Multiverse, not just our Universe : Starts With A Bang

Why we think there's a Multiverse, not just our Universe : Starts With A Bang

SECRET * BASILISK | MetaFilter

SECRET * BASILISK | MetaFilter: BLIT

BLIT, a short story by David Langford.

Why our minds have probably evolved as far as they can go

Why our minds have probably evolved as far as they can go (io9.com):

Our brains have reached an evolutionary "sweet spot", and we can't get much smarter without making major trade-offs. That's the finding of psychologists Thomas Hills of the University of Warwick and Ralph Hertwig of the University of Basel. They have examined a number of studies, and they have come to one inescapable conclusion: there's a steep price to pay for enhanced brainpower, and it's almost certainly not a good deal from an evolutionary perspective.