One thing I have noticed by spending time in and around academia is a certain predisposition of personalities within broad sets of majors and fields. This isn't to say you can say all biology majors are going to be x or y, since that is a fallacy of composition, but in general I have noticed features shared in common among those in a given grouping of majors.
Stem includes a few major separations with large gray areas. Firstly I would say you have the theoreticians. These are those whose work differs from philosophy only in how rigorous the work actually is. They use the rules of logic to build complex sets of algorithms that can be used by other fields but are often sought for their own sake. People such as mathematicians and many computer scientists spend most of their time thinking abstractly, separated from the physical world's ills and limitations. They seek relationships and algorithms and create frameworks necessary for the rest of science to work.
These individuals, in my experience both in person and reading the things they write, seem to be intelligent and very good at abstract thinking. They can construct beautiful algorithms and see relationships between things that most would never think of, much less be able to describe. The downside to such abstract thought, however, seems to be a certain affinity for abstracting reality a bit too far. To these people the relationships can take on meaning of their own accord, regardless of any application or evidence. They buy into crank hypothesis with little to no real world backing, like mind uploading and the AI singularity. Mathematicians sometimes like to think their pet numerical relationship has meaning beyond the numbers, despite evidence to the contrary. Logicians and rationalists, this group sometimes likes to over simplify the world into an abstract algorithm, since most of what they do is abstract and give general cases for things. They end up thinking they can use logic with no premises to describe all of reality.
The opposite end of these rationalists are the pragmatists who strongly populate the fields of engineering. Studies have shown that those who have engineering degrees are more conservative than the general populace and far more so than those in the other STEM fields. It is now established that conservatism tends to bear a strong relationship to mental inelasticity and it is easy to see the attraction to a field where much of the work done is the application of established theories. The grunt level of engineering is the reapplication of the same formula over and over again, allowing problem solving without genuinely abstract thought or rational analysis. Conservatives shy from abstract thinking, having a sort of mental laziness or fear of over complex ideas. The natural inclination towards shying from analytical thought may may intelligent but conservative people go into engineering. This way they can avoid anything which could upset their world view or cause them to doubt the simplistic mental constructs they build but still be challenged with problem solving.
The third group could just be called the scientists. This includes, of course, physicists and biologists but it also includes applied mathematicians and computer scientists and research engineers. The main feature of this group is the ability to think abstractly and question everything, something strongly lacking in many engineers, and the grounding in reality necessary to reevaluate their algorithms and hypothesis. These scientists must be willing to experiment and observe, to include new evidence into old abstractions and to discard said abstractions when necessary. Scientists may not lay the groundwork for rational analysis but they are capable of it. This group makes all the discoveries in nature and tends to be the most progressive and self analytical, since having something you work on for years be discarded can give you a fairly flexible outlook on life.
The logicians and theoreticians make it possible to analyze. The scientists use those tools to discover the world. The engineers get shit done, making the tools for the scientists and creating the civilization around us. Many people are in two or even three of these groups, and they are the best balanced, mentally. Abstract thought is good for us all, but practical reason is a necessary temper to it. The ability to apply our discoveries is the basis of all we have built, but being able to think critically is just as urgent. Ideally scientists could learn from engineers and logicians from scientists, and engineers could apply the reason of scientists and logicians.
Logic Priest
Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
The "Why" in Political Atheism
This is why. This is a surprisingly even handed and moving piece about a former evangelical preacher man from Louisiana who took one stop past liberalizing his faith.
Which brings me to one of my favorite people, Neil Degrasse Tyson. I love him to death and I'm really excited about his upcoming Cosmos series, but he is idealistically scientific. One area he tries to stay clear of is politics, outside of his pro science and education work, and in that fails to fulfill Sagan's legacy. He says here that he dislikes the label atheist due to its political nature, but in this he is very naive. He pretends there is some way out. While true that atheism literally is just a conclusion, joking about how non golf players have no political name, he ignores the trouble caused by religion. If golf oppressed or actively worked against the science and education he pushes then it would be important to be known as agolfist.
Part of Sagan's legacy is his willingness to face politics head on. While Tyson is close, in that he has to some extent spoken against warmongering and anti-science in broad terms, we need the politics of the outspoken atheists and humanists. Tyson has the potential to jump in, to really speak for science and education by tackling the specific barriers in the way, rather than generalized pro education and science activism. He is a brilliant speaker and scientist, and will be great in the new Cosmos, but he is ignoring the reasons atheists are political. The former preacher above is part of that. Someone who lost his job, wife and friends because he came to the logical conclusion modern people should. Obviously Neil Degrasse Tyson is an atheist by definition, but he should grasp the label willingly. Instead of begin afraid to be labeled, to which he has valid criticisms, he should create a definition of the label.
All the world is politics, whether we want it to be or not. In a perfect world science and education should be obvious investments, faith would be an obvious weakness of character and war would exist only in history books, but we don't live there. Politics is a struggle, and part of that struggle is dealing with labels, with self defining those labels. If people listened to arguments well, we would not need politics, but people are weighed down by millions of years of evolutionary baggage making reason hard to achieve. Atheism is political because it has to be. Atheism is more than a rejection of god, it is a rejection of religion and the politics of faith based reasoning. Atheism is political because it helps those who stop believing in a world where logic is a sin. Political atheism is growing as a backlash to out of control religion and faith. Atheism isn't just a rejection of god and faith, it is a rejection of authoritarian ways of thinking, of clinging to the old ways. Atheism is political because every struggle is political, and there is no way out of it.
I know people who went to a more liberal kind of Christianity and were happy with that. The problem is, for me, there was a process involved in moving from Pentecostalism to a more liberal theology, like Grace Church. What makes me different is that process didn’t stop, and it took me all the way. In the end, I couldn’t help feeling that all religion, even the most loving kind, is just a speed bump in the progress of the human race. (emphasis mine).Many modern, liberal americans detach gradually from their beliefs until they hit a sort of ritualistic deism, but they recoil at the logical conclusion. For the modern mind deism is a feat of self deception, creating an answer where no question exists, a solution with no problem, a god with no creation. The worst part of this ritualistic deism is that these liberal Christians still take pride in faith over reason, at least in certain instances, and they excuse the "faithful" of their transgressions against civilization.
Which brings me to one of my favorite people, Neil Degrasse Tyson. I love him to death and I'm really excited about his upcoming Cosmos series, but he is idealistically scientific. One area he tries to stay clear of is politics, outside of his pro science and education work, and in that fails to fulfill Sagan's legacy. He says here that he dislikes the label atheist due to its political nature, but in this he is very naive. He pretends there is some way out. While true that atheism literally is just a conclusion, joking about how non golf players have no political name, he ignores the trouble caused by religion. If golf oppressed or actively worked against the science and education he pushes then it would be important to be known as agolfist.
Part of Sagan's legacy is his willingness to face politics head on. While Tyson is close, in that he has to some extent spoken against warmongering and anti-science in broad terms, we need the politics of the outspoken atheists and humanists. Tyson has the potential to jump in, to really speak for science and education by tackling the specific barriers in the way, rather than generalized pro education and science activism. He is a brilliant speaker and scientist, and will be great in the new Cosmos, but he is ignoring the reasons atheists are political. The former preacher above is part of that. Someone who lost his job, wife and friends because he came to the logical conclusion modern people should. Obviously Neil Degrasse Tyson is an atheist by definition, but he should grasp the label willingly. Instead of begin afraid to be labeled, to which he has valid criticisms, he should create a definition of the label.
All the world is politics, whether we want it to be or not. In a perfect world science and education should be obvious investments, faith would be an obvious weakness of character and war would exist only in history books, but we don't live there. Politics is a struggle, and part of that struggle is dealing with labels, with self defining those labels. If people listened to arguments well, we would not need politics, but people are weighed down by millions of years of evolutionary baggage making reason hard to achieve. Atheism is political because it has to be. Atheism is more than a rejection of god, it is a rejection of religion and the politics of faith based reasoning. Atheism is political because it helps those who stop believing in a world where logic is a sin. Political atheism is growing as a backlash to out of control religion and faith. Atheism isn't just a rejection of god and faith, it is a rejection of authoritarian ways of thinking, of clinging to the old ways. Atheism is political because every struggle is political, and there is no way out of it.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Poor Singularians
As an interested party in computer science, I love the idea of artificial intelligence. I know enough computational theory to know that AI is technically possible, there are many physical barriers to creating something we would recognize as 'intelligent.' I am, at heart, a materialist, and as such buy into emergence theory and such, but a theoretical possibility is not guaranteed to ever be invented. Our own bodies have nearly four billion years on us, although we could take a shorter path, since we have a deliberate goal in mind.
Alan Turing's hypothetical machine could emulate any system if you give it enough complexity, but that right there is where physical limits start to slow us down. Any computer you find lying around works on the same strict principles. Microscopic transistors store information simply by combining large patterns of on and off, 1 and 0. On is designated by an electron charge, off by a lack of one. While these transistors have become smaller and smaller over the decades, there is a physical limit on their size. Electrons do have a size themselves, and any material used to store them as a charge would in turn need to be a minimum size to not begin having quantum uncertainty issues, assuming the material itself doesn't do weird stuff that small. Many other complexities get in the way, such as bus speed, processor complexity, etc. In fact the binary nature of things, the 0s and 1s, increases complexity by a large magnitude compared to biological computers, with multi-state neurons in place of transistors (and other parts, as well. Neurons are multi-function.)
Assuming someone puts together a complex enough computer, we then come down to the software. In fact some have theorized we do in fact have the computing power, in the form of distributed computing (think large networks like the internet). This massive, distributed computing could, perhaps cooperate well enough towards a common set of goals or commands, so let us allow it for our hypotheticals. Now you have a mass of goo. Insane processing power, able to run millions of commands at once, approaching the complexity of organic computers. But now, unlike those organic computers, you need programs as a separate component. Within the structure of organic computers are certain instincts and drives, emotions and reactions. These are physically and chemically ingrained into the brain, which causes another issue we can examine later. Once more let us gloss over the issue of integration and use complex programs to emulate these biological impulses and structures. Ok, who codes this? Billions of years of admittedly messy code is still quite a project to emulate. Already the issue begins to become very, very clear. Many, especially in computer science, assume it is just a matter of adaptive programming, where the programs can self modify, but they are the very people who should know better. An operating system, such as Windows XP (an old OS), has tens of millions of lines of code. The linux kernel alone has some 15 million plus lines of code.
So far we have a massive coding project, an insane network of computers, and we are still stuck with some issues of complexity. It really does keep coming back to complexity. To go back to biology, which has us beat so badly in the game of computing, PZ Myers at Phyrangula has a great post on the complexity of the brain. In his post:
You need to measure the epigenetic state of every nucleus, the distribution of highly specific, low copy number molecules in every dendritic spine, the state of molecules in flux along transport pathways, and the precise concentration of all ions in every single compartment. Does anyone have a fixation method that preserves the chemical state of the tissue?
Alan Turing's hypothetical machine could emulate any system if you give it enough complexity, but that right there is where physical limits start to slow us down. Any computer you find lying around works on the same strict principles. Microscopic transistors store information simply by combining large patterns of on and off, 1 and 0. On is designated by an electron charge, off by a lack of one. While these transistors have become smaller and smaller over the decades, there is a physical limit on their size. Electrons do have a size themselves, and any material used to store them as a charge would in turn need to be a minimum size to not begin having quantum uncertainty issues, assuming the material itself doesn't do weird stuff that small. Many other complexities get in the way, such as bus speed, processor complexity, etc. In fact the binary nature of things, the 0s and 1s, increases complexity by a large magnitude compared to biological computers, with multi-state neurons in place of transistors (and other parts, as well. Neurons are multi-function.)
Assuming someone puts together a complex enough computer, we then come down to the software. In fact some have theorized we do in fact have the computing power, in the form of distributed computing (think large networks like the internet). This massive, distributed computing could, perhaps cooperate well enough towards a common set of goals or commands, so let us allow it for our hypotheticals. Now you have a mass of goo. Insane processing power, able to run millions of commands at once, approaching the complexity of organic computers. But now, unlike those organic computers, you need programs as a separate component. Within the structure of organic computers are certain instincts and drives, emotions and reactions. These are physically and chemically ingrained into the brain, which causes another issue we can examine later. Once more let us gloss over the issue of integration and use complex programs to emulate these biological impulses and structures. Ok, who codes this? Billions of years of admittedly messy code is still quite a project to emulate. Already the issue begins to become very, very clear. Many, especially in computer science, assume it is just a matter of adaptive programming, where the programs can self modify, but they are the very people who should know better. An operating system, such as Windows XP (an old OS), has tens of millions of lines of code. The linux kernel alone has some 15 million plus lines of code.
So far we have a massive coding project, an insane network of computers, and we are still stuck with some issues of complexity. It really does keep coming back to complexity. To go back to biology, which has us beat so badly in the game of computing, PZ Myers at Phyrangula has a great post on the complexity of the brain. In his post:
You need to measure the epigenetic state of every nucleus, the distribution of highly specific, low copy number molecules in every dendritic spine, the state of molecules in flux along transport pathways, and the precise concentration of all ions in every single compartment. Does anyone have a fixation method that preserves the chemical state of the tissue?
The programs can, as Turing showed mathematically, emulate many of these functions, so let us pretend we managed to reach the requirements and have a working AI, most likely in some manner an emulation of a human. This AI now has whatever we thought would best model our own thought, but without the hormones, senses, or the entire rest of our nervous and limbic systems. This entity we have created now has in common with us only what we were able to emulate of ourselves. Perhaps it shows some form of our emotion, but the only thing emotional theories agree on in psychology is that they have a strong physiological component. I already mentioned the integration of the 'programs' and 'hardware' in biological brains, and despite program emulations of such, this self modifying entity will not cling very strongly to human biological urges, emotions, instincts or morals.
I don't automatically assume the new intelligence is going to kill us all, because that requires a very human anger or hate. But with only logical backings and likely flawed programming, this AI will be very, very different from us. It won't have an extended body, it will probably skip much of our built in abstractions and it really won't have common ground for us to communicate with, aside from purely technical instructions.
To really build an AI that we would recognize as such, we would need to emulate much of ourselves in it. We would need some pretend body and environment, some emulated limbic and nervous system (the brain is only PART of the nervous system, something most futurists forget). We would also need to build a completely different type of computer, one where the architecture is structurally tied to certain actions. Basically we would need to build a human body, but far more expensive. It would need DNA instructions, separate abstracted layers like our 'reptile' brain to work it's normal, computer functions and higher order processors for complex thought.
None of this is to say AI is at all impossible. For one thing, this assumes we use transistor based computers, which may the only ones you or I can buy, but are not the only ones being researched and made. But this is to say AI is not some accidental programming error that could happen secretly on the internet, or in some military lab deep underground. And it is also to point out the philosophical differences between us and any AI. It probably won't like us, but it won't hate us either. Both of those require some measure of survival instinct, which an artificial construct won't really have.
On the flip side, the point of the PZ Myers post I linked earlier makes is that due to this, as well as the scanning issue he discusses, we are not very close to 'uploading' our brains. We are more than memories in slide show presentations, we are more than our brain. We are our entire bodies, every cell and nerve and sensation. AI is possible because any system of enough complexity can emerge into intelligence, but we may have very little to say to it.
Logic Priest
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)