We will always wonder whether there is a limit to what our minds can do. While it is difficult to imagine a limitless mind, one that is defined by the capacity to solve all problems or the ability to accumulate all knowledge or one that has the ability of total recall, it is also hard to imagine what could possibly limit it.
Unfortunately, imagining, thinking and contemplating are all components of the mental processes which makes measuring an impossibility when the measuring rod itself is unknowable. Back to this later.
Today's technology is of course trying everything to enhance the capability of computing, or get over the threshold of the limits of computers by providing users with the help coming from somewhere almost magical. We can now store data, stash photos, records, or convert hard copies of documents electronically, and depositing them into the ethereal vault and filing cabinets and folders in an imaginary repository located somewhere else, yet instantaneously accessible with just a few keystrokes. To make this innocuous offering so enticing, service providers had come up with one equally innocuous, very reassuring, location for users to stash personal data - by calling it "the cloud". While it is mostly free, or with a fee so negligibly small, we know there is some other cost we indirectly incur. It is either because we, the users, have become the merchandise peddled by the very infrastructure that provides the services, or we pay with the erosion of our privacy.
Artificial intelligence has become the proverbial definition of everything humanity had always wished for - the god-like source for answers and super human mental abilities - from computing with the speed of a magic wand, making predictions or at least attain the capability to predict certain future events with algorithms every self respecting soothsayer, oracles and clairvoyants would like to have. Artificial intelligence and robotics have paved the way for physical abilities to make Hercules an envious weakling or give new meaning to herculean achievements that transcend beyond mere strength and speed by doing tasks repeatedly and accurately with untiring enthusiasm and free of the human workers' proclivity to boredom.
But what price we may have to pay or already have? Breaches into private data, hacking into computer systems, simple mischief that used to be the young hacker's idea of Jack climbing up the beanstalk to venture into the clouds have now turned into a criminal enterprise. How did we get to this point? Is it the price of progress? Is it the insatiable quest for expanding the limits of our capabilities because we can, or have we given up so easily to the new task master - technology. We have latched on to the idea that machines will free up much of our thinking or do away with the difficult processes of thought so we can enjoy more of what we believe to be more pleasurable to the mind? The quick but incomplete answer is that progress is the unstoppable force that can pierce through the soft tissues of human nature. We should accept it because technology paves the shortest distance between each stage of development of any civilization. Progress is the overlord of a malleable society, technology is what propels it to go where it wants to go because we have become the reluctant passengers only too willing to acquiesce.
However, we should not easily give up on the human mind. We gave up and gave in so easily and so quickly. We can say that this 3-pound mass of tissue encased in our cranium has its limits. The question is and always had been about whether those limits had been reached. It is not an easy question, likely impossible to answer.
Actually, the more we use technology to do the thinking for us the less likely future generations will ever find out the limits of the human mind. Or, the less likely they will have an appreciation for what the mind is capable of. Within just a handful of decades we have outsourced tasks that the mind used to do with the idea that perhaps we can then focus our attention away from the mundane. In actuality, the more the machines do much of the work, the more our world had become mundane. In the process we have carved out large slices of time in our everyday life only to squander them in social media, much to the delight of Facebook and Instagram and other providers. We know now that much of social media providers are a marketplace where the users are themselves both the merchandise and the consumer. It is a vicious loop so cleverly contrived.
Now, let's inject the 1999 scifi, "Matrix", into the mix. It came out in 1999, a time long before we heard much about artificial intelligence. The film was about a world two centuries later from that year - 2199. As improbable as the plot was, writers and producers had a basis for their bold scenario. After all, a mere 60+ years elapsed between the first rudimentary flight of 120 feet to landing on the moon. Who knows what could happen in 200 years.
In 2199, AI, machines whose artificial intelligence humans had come to rely on, had won the battle between man and machine. By that time, what remained as a source of energy was bio-electricity produced by the human body. Enslaved humans were held in perpetual captivity for as long as they were alive, hooked up to electrodes gathering body-produced electrical energy to power the machines. AI knows the importance of the human mind so it had devised a way to entertain the mind with continuous but passive stimulation by a software program that simulated a virtual reality. The machines knew that the brain, a mere 2% of the total body weight, could consume 20-25% of the energy, so a passive stimulation rather than deep thought was all the brain was allowed to do so more of its bio-electrical energy is "harvested".
If there was a redeeming value to the story, it was the acknowledgement by the machines that the human mind is much too powerful than any artificial intelligence can ever muster to duplicate.
That takes us back to the second paragraph above. How are we to measure the limits of the human mind? We are faced with the idea of a measuring rod that is the human mind to measure itself or one other mind. IQ tests and psycho analysis are limited exactly by that paradox. These tests may approach but will never reach proximity to or even be near a modicum of certainty to be reliable.
So, why was Albert Einstein so smart or Thomas Edison a prolific inventor, or why was Nicola Tesla able to conceive new insights into electricity? Why are idiot savants capable of performing tasks none of us ordinary humans can, yet be so socially inept or mentally incapable of other things we can so easily do?
This is just a theory. In the case of idiot savants, their minds are so unsaturated with stuff that average folks must contend with and accumulate in their brains in the course of normal development. Unsaturated minds can have a very narrow focus with laser-like dedication to just that one task done at the very highest level, while failing in almost everything else. Can we then assume that each brain may have the potential to multiply multiple digits by another multiple digits without fail or blurt out the day of the week September 21, 1872 was? Is the reason the average person can't is because we somehow have a saturation of data and other things to occupy our mind to excel in just one task? It is the proverbial constraint that universally proves, "there is no such thing as a free lunch".
Einstein's thought experiments made it possible for him to contemplate what it was like to ride the tip of a light beam. It allowed him to imagine what the rest of the world looked like or behave relative to himself on a streaming vehicle at 186,000 miles per second. How can someone formulate two theories that transformed the world, to redefine Newton's standard theories, yet was forgetful of day-to-day activities, failed calculus at one time, or needed help from other mathematicians with calculations, or socially awkward, even neglectful of family obligations at times? Many of these folks have somehow managed to free up space in their brains as to accommodate only the things that mattered most to them. They have unsaturated compartments in their minds or have outsourced much of the stuff that they considered unimportant. Or, is it?
This takes us back to freeing up space in our personal computers by dumping data to the "cloud" or transferring them to USB drives or other external storage.
There lies the quandary of the human mind. Yes, we can perhaps fulfill a mass ejection of memory to free up space in our brain but we do not have the luxury of a retrieval system, let alone know for sure if we have actually completely ejected them. However, how do we know we need to get rid of stuff from our mind if we do not know for sure if we need to? You see, unlike computers where we can look in to find out how much memory storage space remain unused, we do not, or cannot, know what our mind has left available. Even more interesting, as studies have shown, is that in some instances the brain is shown to learn new things in individuals whose advanced age were previously known to be incapable of knowing or how to do new stuff.
This is the message folks of my generation ought to deliver to those poised to inherit the world we are about to leave in their care. Keeping our minds sharp to the extent of proving to them that we still can is a way to show that our minds are not quite that saturated but that the storage capacity of the human mind shall remain a bottomless well, able to continue to absorb and remain an invaluable source of information and wisdom. We should not succumb to the temptation of dumping data to free up space because what memories we have are there for permanent companionship and a wealth of knowledge free to anyone who wants or needs them.
The wisdom of the aged are after all the ultimate free lunch for the youth.
Similar suggested musings:
https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2017/10/gehirn-geist-verstand.html
The Age Old Phenomenon of Aging:
https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-age-old-phenomenon-of-aging.html
Unfortunately, imagining, thinking and contemplating are all components of the mental processes which makes measuring an impossibility when the measuring rod itself is unknowable. Back to this later.
Today's technology is of course trying everything to enhance the capability of computing, or get over the threshold of the limits of computers by providing users with the help coming from somewhere almost magical. We can now store data, stash photos, records, or convert hard copies of documents electronically, and depositing them into the ethereal vault and filing cabinets and folders in an imaginary repository located somewhere else, yet instantaneously accessible with just a few keystrokes. To make this innocuous offering so enticing, service providers had come up with one equally innocuous, very reassuring, location for users to stash personal data - by calling it "the cloud". While it is mostly free, or with a fee so negligibly small, we know there is some other cost we indirectly incur. It is either because we, the users, have become the merchandise peddled by the very infrastructure that provides the services, or we pay with the erosion of our privacy.
Artificial intelligence has become the proverbial definition of everything humanity had always wished for - the god-like source for answers and super human mental abilities - from computing with the speed of a magic wand, making predictions or at least attain the capability to predict certain future events with algorithms every self respecting soothsayer, oracles and clairvoyants would like to have. Artificial intelligence and robotics have paved the way for physical abilities to make Hercules an envious weakling or give new meaning to herculean achievements that transcend beyond mere strength and speed by doing tasks repeatedly and accurately with untiring enthusiasm and free of the human workers' proclivity to boredom.
But what price we may have to pay or already have? Breaches into private data, hacking into computer systems, simple mischief that used to be the young hacker's idea of Jack climbing up the beanstalk to venture into the clouds have now turned into a criminal enterprise. How did we get to this point? Is it the price of progress? Is it the insatiable quest for expanding the limits of our capabilities because we can, or have we given up so easily to the new task master - technology. We have latched on to the idea that machines will free up much of our thinking or do away with the difficult processes of thought so we can enjoy more of what we believe to be more pleasurable to the mind? The quick but incomplete answer is that progress is the unstoppable force that can pierce through the soft tissues of human nature. We should accept it because technology paves the shortest distance between each stage of development of any civilization. Progress is the overlord of a malleable society, technology is what propels it to go where it wants to go because we have become the reluctant passengers only too willing to acquiesce.
However, we should not easily give up on the human mind. We gave up and gave in so easily and so quickly. We can say that this 3-pound mass of tissue encased in our cranium has its limits. The question is and always had been about whether those limits had been reached. It is not an easy question, likely impossible to answer.
Actually, the more we use technology to do the thinking for us the less likely future generations will ever find out the limits of the human mind. Or, the less likely they will have an appreciation for what the mind is capable of. Within just a handful of decades we have outsourced tasks that the mind used to do with the idea that perhaps we can then focus our attention away from the mundane. In actuality, the more the machines do much of the work, the more our world had become mundane. In the process we have carved out large slices of time in our everyday life only to squander them in social media, much to the delight of Facebook and Instagram and other providers. We know now that much of social media providers are a marketplace where the users are themselves both the merchandise and the consumer. It is a vicious loop so cleverly contrived.
Now, let's inject the 1999 scifi, "Matrix", into the mix. It came out in 1999, a time long before we heard much about artificial intelligence. The film was about a world two centuries later from that year - 2199. As improbable as the plot was, writers and producers had a basis for their bold scenario. After all, a mere 60+ years elapsed between the first rudimentary flight of 120 feet to landing on the moon. Who knows what could happen in 200 years.
In 2199, AI, machines whose artificial intelligence humans had come to rely on, had won the battle between man and machine. By that time, what remained as a source of energy was bio-electricity produced by the human body. Enslaved humans were held in perpetual captivity for as long as they were alive, hooked up to electrodes gathering body-produced electrical energy to power the machines. AI knows the importance of the human mind so it had devised a way to entertain the mind with continuous but passive stimulation by a software program that simulated a virtual reality. The machines knew that the brain, a mere 2% of the total body weight, could consume 20-25% of the energy, so a passive stimulation rather than deep thought was all the brain was allowed to do so more of its bio-electrical energy is "harvested".
If there was a redeeming value to the story, it was the acknowledgement by the machines that the human mind is much too powerful than any artificial intelligence can ever muster to duplicate.
That takes us back to the second paragraph above. How are we to measure the limits of the human mind? We are faced with the idea of a measuring rod that is the human mind to measure itself or one other mind. IQ tests and psycho analysis are limited exactly by that paradox. These tests may approach but will never reach proximity to or even be near a modicum of certainty to be reliable.
So, why was Albert Einstein so smart or Thomas Edison a prolific inventor, or why was Nicola Tesla able to conceive new insights into electricity? Why are idiot savants capable of performing tasks none of us ordinary humans can, yet be so socially inept or mentally incapable of other things we can so easily do?
This is just a theory. In the case of idiot savants, their minds are so unsaturated with stuff that average folks must contend with and accumulate in their brains in the course of normal development. Unsaturated minds can have a very narrow focus with laser-like dedication to just that one task done at the very highest level, while failing in almost everything else. Can we then assume that each brain may have the potential to multiply multiple digits by another multiple digits without fail or blurt out the day of the week September 21, 1872 was? Is the reason the average person can't is because we somehow have a saturation of data and other things to occupy our mind to excel in just one task? It is the proverbial constraint that universally proves, "there is no such thing as a free lunch".
Einstein's thought experiments made it possible for him to contemplate what it was like to ride the tip of a light beam. It allowed him to imagine what the rest of the world looked like or behave relative to himself on a streaming vehicle at 186,000 miles per second. How can someone formulate two theories that transformed the world, to redefine Newton's standard theories, yet was forgetful of day-to-day activities, failed calculus at one time, or needed help from other mathematicians with calculations, or socially awkward, even neglectful of family obligations at times? Many of these folks have somehow managed to free up space in their brains as to accommodate only the things that mattered most to them. They have unsaturated compartments in their minds or have outsourced much of the stuff that they considered unimportant. Or, is it?
This takes us back to freeing up space in our personal computers by dumping data to the "cloud" or transferring them to USB drives or other external storage.
There lies the quandary of the human mind. Yes, we can perhaps fulfill a mass ejection of memory to free up space in our brain but we do not have the luxury of a retrieval system, let alone know for sure if we have actually completely ejected them. However, how do we know we need to get rid of stuff from our mind if we do not know for sure if we need to? You see, unlike computers where we can look in to find out how much memory storage space remain unused, we do not, or cannot, know what our mind has left available. Even more interesting, as studies have shown, is that in some instances the brain is shown to learn new things in individuals whose advanced age were previously known to be incapable of knowing or how to do new stuff.
This is the message folks of my generation ought to deliver to those poised to inherit the world we are about to leave in their care. Keeping our minds sharp to the extent of proving to them that we still can is a way to show that our minds are not quite that saturated but that the storage capacity of the human mind shall remain a bottomless well, able to continue to absorb and remain an invaluable source of information and wisdom. We should not succumb to the temptation of dumping data to free up space because what memories we have are there for permanent companionship and a wealth of knowledge free to anyone who wants or needs them.
The wisdom of the aged are after all the ultimate free lunch for the youth.
Similar suggested musings:
https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2017/10/gehirn-geist-verstand.html
The Age Old Phenomenon of Aging:
https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-age-old-phenomenon-of-aging.html
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