HAWKING EXOPHOBIA
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From: OutreZoneD on 26 Apr 2010 02:57 HAWKING EXOPHOBIA http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/25/stephen-hawking-aliens_n_551035.html Perhaps Dr. Hawking's entombed brain has been imprisoned for so long in an emaciated shell of a hybrid cybernetic infrastructure that his lonely, cosmologically-mathematical myopic mindgland can no longer remember a vital state of being prior to hyper- vulnerability to the ravages of time/space, symbolized as a highly sophisticated form of predation? Or, maybe, like Dr. John Lilly's isolation tanks in conjunction with experiments with LSD and Ketamine, his mind has intercepted vast arrays of extraterrestrial cognitive probes without form eliciting a great fear? ~o0-O-0o~ We, Borg Speculations on Hive Minds as a Posthuman State http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Posthumanity/WeBorg.html by Anders Sandberg The designers of our species set out to produce a being that might be capable of an order of mentality higher than their own. The only possibility of doing so lay in planning a great increase in brain organisation. But they knew that the brain of an individual human being could not safely be allowed to exceed a certain weight. They therefore sought to produce the new order of mentality in a system of distinct and specialised brains held in "telepathic" unity by means of ethereal radiation. Material brains were to be capable of becoming on some occasions mere nodes in a system of radiation which itself should then constitute the physical basis of a single mind. Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men Hive minds where the individual is subsumed into a collective consciousness has been a recurring idea in science fiction since Olaf Stapledon's influential novels Last and First Men (1931) and Star Maker (1937), although the concept in some sense had been suggested by Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes (1651). They have often in western science fiction been used as an allegory for communism or the anonymity of industrial civilisation, and have usually been portrayed in a terrifying light (Nicholls 1982). The latest such portrayal is the Borg in Star Trek: the Next Generation: a race of bionically augmented humanoids linked together into a collective mind, striving to assimilate every other intelligent species into the Collective. [...] http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Posthumanity/WeBorg.html ~o0-O-0o~ [ See also: "SATBOT I: Prototype of a Biomorphic Autonomous Spacecraft" http://home.netcom.com/~mthorn/satbot00.htm and... C y b r i d i z a t i o n http://home.netcom.com/~mthorn/sectoid2.htm ] P.S. Atlas V rollout w/ X-37B http://www.afspc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123200899
From: Scoop on 28 Apr 2010 10:26 I like fish. I don't think they like me, though. ..:.:.:.:.:.:.:. Neal Ross Attinson .:.:.:.:.:.:.:. : Doing my best to complete the Nameless Mission : ..:.:.:.:.:. http://metaphorager.net .:.:.:.:.:.
From: john on 28 Apr 2010 11:38 On Apr 26, 12:57 am, OutreZoneD <outrezo...(a)my-deja.com> wrote: > HAWKING EXOPHOBIA > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/25/stephen-hawking-aliens_n_551.... > > Perhaps Dr. Hawking's entombed brain has been > imprisoned for so long in an emaciated shell > of a hybrid cybernetic infrastructure that > his lonely, cosmologically-mathematical > myopic mindgland can no longer remember > a vital state of being prior to hyper- > vulnerability to the ravages of > time/space, symbolized as a highly > sophisticated form of predation? > Or, maybe, like Dr. John Lilly's > isolation tanks in conjunction > with experiments with LSD and > Ketamine, his mind has > intercepted vast arrays > of extraterrestrial > cognitive probes > without form > eliciting > a great > fear? > > ~o0-O-0o~ > > We, Borg > > Speculations on Hive Minds as a Posthuman State > > http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Posthumanity/WeBorg.html > > by Anders Sandberg > > The designers of our species set out to produce > a being that might be capable of an order of > mentality higher than their own. The only > possibility of doing so lay in planning a great > increase in brain organisation. But they knew > that the brain of an individual human being > could not safely be allowed to exceed a certain > weight. They therefore sought to produce the > new order of mentality in a system of distinct > and specialised brains held in "telepathic" > unity by means of ethereal radiation. Material > brains were to be capable of becoming on some > occasions mere nodes in a system of radiation > which itself should then constitute the > physical basis of a single mind. > Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men > > Hive minds where the individual is subsumed into a > collective consciousness has been a recurring idea > in science fiction since Olaf Stapledon's influential > novels Last and First Men (1931) and Star Maker (1937), > although the concept in some sense had been suggested > by Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes (1651). They have often > in western science fiction been used as an allegory > for communism or the anonymity of industrial > civilisation, and have usually been portrayed in a > terrifying light (Nicholls 1982). The latest such > portrayal is the Borg in Star Trek: the Next Generation: > a race of bionically augmented humanoids linked together > into a collective mind, striving to assimilate every > other intelligent species into the Collective. [...] > http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Posthumanity/WeBorg.html > > ~o0-O-0o~ > > [ See also: "SATBOT I: > Prototype of a Biomorphic Autonomous Spacecraft" > http://home.netcom.com/~mthorn/satbot00.htm > and... C y b r i d i z a t i o n > http://home.netcom.com/~mthorn/sectoid2.htm ] > > P.S. Atlas V rollout w/ X-37B > http://www.afspc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123200899 No cigar. You don't 'set out to produce a being that might be capable of an order of mentality higher than their own'. There is here already a structure and we are on its lower levels. Doing what you say is like hooking bedsheets to get down from a high-rise building because you can't find the stairs. Look around for the stairs. They go as far as you can learn. john
From: Planet Jupiter on 28 Apr 2010 21:56 On Apr 28, 8:38 am, john <vegan16(a)accesscomm.ca> wrote: > > On Apr 26, 12:57 am, OutreZoneD <outrezoned(a)my-deja.com> wrote: >> HAWKING EXOPHOBIA >> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/25/stephen-hawking-aliens_n_551.... >> >> Perhaps Dr. Hawking's entombed brain has been >> imprisoned for so long in an emaciated shell >> of a hybrid cybernetic infrastructure that >> his lonely, cosmologically-mathematical >> myopic mindgland can no longer remember >> a vital state of being prior to hyper- >> vulnerability to the ravages of >> time/space, symbolized as a highly >> sophisticated form of predation? >> Or, maybe, like Dr. John Lilly's >> isolation tanks in conjunction >> with experiments with LSD and >> Ketamine, his mind has >> intercepted vast arrays >> of extraterrestrial >> cognitive probes >> without form >> eliciting >> a great >> fear? >> >> ~o0-O-0o~ >> >> We, Borg >> >> Speculations on Hive Minds as a Posthuman State >> >> http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Posthumanity/WeBorg.html >> >> by Anders Sandberg >> >> The designers of our species set out to produce >> a being that might be capable of an order of >> mentality higher than their own. The only >> possibility of doing so lay in planning a great >> increase in brain organisation. But they knew >> that the brain of an individual human being >> could not safely be allowed to exceed a certain >> weight. They therefore sought to produce the >> new order of mentality in a system of distinct >> and specialised brains held in "telepathic" >> unity by means of ethereal radiation. Material >> brains were to be capable of becoming on some >> occasions mere nodes in a system of radiation >> which itself should then constitute the >> physical basis of a single mind. >> Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men >> >> Hive minds where the individual is subsumed into a >> collective consciousness has been a recurring idea >> in science fiction since Olaf Stapledon's influential >> novels Last and First Men (1931) and Star Maker (1937), >> although the concept in some sense had been suggested >> by Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes (1651). They have often >> in western science fiction been used as an allegory >> for communism or the anonymity of industrial >> civilisation, and have usually been portrayed in a >> terrifying light (Nicholls 1982). The latest such >> portrayal is the Borg in Star Trek: the Next Generation: >> a race of bionically augmented humanoids linked together >> into a collective mind, striving to assimilate every >> other intelligent species into the Collective. [...] >> http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Posthumanity/WeBorg.html >> >> ~o0-O-0o~ >> >> [ See also: "SATBOT I: >> Prototype of a Biomorphic Autonomous Spacecraft" >> http://home.netcom.com/~mthorn/satbot00.htm >> and... C y b r i d i z a t i o n >> http://home.netcom.com/~mthorn/sectoid2.htm ] >> >> P.S. Atlas V rollout w/ X-37B >> http://www.afspc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123200899 > > No cigar. > > You don't 'set out to produce > a being that might be capable of an order of > mentality higher than their own'. > > There is here already a structure > and we are on its lower levels. > Doing what you say is like > hooking bedsheets to get down > from a high-rise building because > you can't find the stairs. > Look around for the stairs. > They go as far as you can > learn. > > john Scientists finds evidence of water ice [and organics] on asteroid's surface... http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/uota-sfe042710.php Asteroids, once thought as dry and lifeless, may be home to water and organic materials, also known as the building blocks of life KNOXVILLE -- Asteroids may not be the dark, dry, lifeless chunks of rock scientists have long thought. Josh Emery, research assistant professor with the earth and planetary sciences department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has found evidence of water ice and organic material on the asteroid 24 Themis. This evidence supports the idea that asteroids could be responsible for bringing water and organic material to Earth. The findings are detailed in the April 29 issue of the journal "Nature." Using NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, Emery and Andrew Rivkin of Johns Hopkins University in Laurel, Md., examined the surface of 24 Themis, a 200-kilometer wide asteroid that sits halfway between Mars and Jupiter. By measuring the spectrum of infrared sunlight reflected by the object, the researchers found the spectrum consistent with frozen water and determined that 24 Themis is coated with a thin film of ice. They also detected organic material. "The organics we detected appear to be complex, long-chained molecules. Raining down on a barren Earth in meteorites, these could have given a big kick-start to the development of life," Emery said. Emery noted that finding ice on the surface of 24 Themis was a surprise because the surface is too warm for ice to stick around for a long time. "This implies that ice is quite abundant in the interior of 24 Themis and perhaps many other asteroids. This ice on asteroids may be the answer to the puzzle of where Earth's water came from," he said. Still, how the water ice got there is unclear. 24 Themis' proximity to the sun causes ice to vaporize. However, the researchers' findings suggest the asteroid's lifetime of ice ranges from thousands to millions of years depending on the latitude. Therefore, the ice is regularly being replenished. The scientists theorize this is done by a process of "outgassing" in which ice buried within the asteroid escapes slowly as vapor migrates through cracks to the surface or as vapor escapes quickly and sporadically when 24 Themis is hit by space debris. Since Themis is part of an asteroid "family" that was formed from a large impact and the subsequent fragmentation of a larger body long ago, this scenario means the parent body also had ice and has deep implications for how our solar system formed. The discovery of abundant ice on 24 Themis demonstrates that water is much more common in the Main Belt of asteroids than previously thought. "Asteroids have generally been viewed as being very dry. It now appears that when the asteroids and planets were first forming in the very early Solar System, ice extended far into the Main Belt region," Emery said. "Extending this refined view to planetary systems around other stars, the building blocks of life -- water and organics -- may be more common near each star's habitable zone. The coming years will be truly exciting as astronomers search to discover whether these building blocks of life have worked their magic there as well." The scientists' discovery also further blurs the line between comets and asteroids. Asteroids have long been considered to be rocky and comets icy. Furthermore, it was once believed that comets could have brought water to Earth. This theory was nixed when it was discovered comets' water has different isotopic signatures than water on Earth. Now, due to Emery and Rivkin's findings, many wonder if asteroids could be responsible for seeding Earth with the ingredients for life. Contact: Whitney Holmes wholmes7-AT-utk.edu 865-974-5460 University of Tennessee at Knoxville http://www.tennessee.edu/ ### The Nature article is entitled "Detection of Ice and Organics on an Asteroidal Surface." The researchers' work was supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy program. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ So, are we all saying: "You Can't Get There From Here?"
From: OutreZoneD on 29 Apr 2010 02:14
On Apr 28, 7:26 am, no-spam(a)sonic.net (Scoop) wrote: > I like fish. I don't think they like me, though. > > .:.:.:.:.:.:.:. Neal Ross Attinson .:.:.:.:.:.:.:. > : Doing my best to complete the Nameless Mission : > .:.:.:.:.:. http://metaphorager.net .:.:.:.:.:. A Woman Needs God Like A Fish Needs A Bicycle h o m e . n e t c o m . c o m / ~ m t h o r n / r a w . h t m |