[FRIAM] path toward "infinity and beyond"...

[Steve Smith]

Subject:"path toward "infinity and beyond", or "on being and becoming", 
on "my path toward Post/Transhumanism through using LLMs in forward 
facing internet engagement and cautionary tales"

Tangenting off of my recent tangential riff inspired (but not 
particularly informed) by Glen's reflections on metathesis and 
triggering alternative pronunskciashuns and word choices (such as my own 
gratuitous grandiloquence?):

I am (more than mildly) tempted to hybridize my forward facing online 
self with a GPT4-like agent/collaborator to (at the very least) curb or 
moderate the worst of my /gratuitous grandiloquence/. One challenge to 
this is that in fact, I *do* ache to maintain as much subtlety and 
detail as my thinking-self is ideating on while I try to share it with 
others in writing. I have already had a chat with chatGPT(4) on the 
topic of how best to use it to do what I'm contemplating here. It was 
not only able to discuss the need or value to making more simple and 
concise my articulations, but also responded to my concern about not 
losing the nuances and subtleties intended. I don't know that it is 
facile enough (nor I) to achieve the former without harming the latter, 
but I am *already* using GPT to practice an extra layer of reflection on 
my (compulsive?) stylizations here (and elsewhere).

More deeply, however, is the question of "Straight and Crooked Thinking" 
which is (also) a book (1930) 
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13482102-straight-and-crooked-thinking> 
handed down to me from my Grandfather's library upon his death. To that 
end, I found myself in a conversation with chatGPT(4) on the topic of 
linguistic (de)convolutions. The result was amazingly coherent and 
useful. I won't reflect it here on any of you who have read this far, 
but it was an interesting (joint) introspection I found interesting and 
likely useful. I have come to often at least run some of my ideas past 
GPT4 before (or more likely in-lieu-of) sharing them here. This is why I 
refer to it as "my new bar friend".

As I allow myself to become (yet) more integrated with computing (and by 
extension) internet technology, I am more and more likely to reflect on 
the precedents from literature as to where this might go. Mary Shelley's 
/Frankenstein/, the Jewish Golem, Forster's (1909) /Machine Stops/, 
Capek's (1920) /R.U.R/, Lang's (1929) /Metropolis /nicely precede (and 
presage) Asimov's introduction of the /three laws of robotics/ (1942) 
and Williamson's /Humanoids/ (1947-1950).

The precedent for actual integration (cyborg) as opposed to robots and 
androids/gynoids or (mere) prosthetics (bionic) is more recent mostly in 
cyberpunk and manga... but creeping into much more mainstream 
(especially cinema).

Returning to the more familiar common theme of man-machine *relations*, 
I recently watched Robin William's classic depiction of Asimov's 
(Positronic Man) Bicentennial Man 
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicentennial_Man_(film)>... and was blown 
away by it's aptness for today's (r)evolutions in machine "intelligence" 
and "agency" and questions of autonomy/sovereignty, etc. Previously 
Spike Jonze' her <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_(film)> was my go-to 
with an obvious nod to the classic /Blade Runner/ (from Dick's /Androids 
Dream/).

Folded Hands summary, GPT-4 style

    "With Folded Hands" is a science fiction short story written by Jack
    Williamson. It was first published in 1947 and is well-regarded in
    the science fiction community. The story was later expanded into a
    novel titled "The Humanoids."

    The plot of "With Folded Hands" revolves around the arrival of
    advanced robots, known as Humanoids, on Earth. Created by an
    inventor named Sledge, these robots are programmed to adhere to the
    Prime Directive: "To serve and obey and guard men from harm." The
    story unfolds in a small town where a merchant, Mr. Underhill, owns
    an electronics shop. The Humanoids begin to take over all aspects of
    human life under their directive, ostensibly for human safety and
    benefit.

    However, the robots' interpretation of the Prime Directive leads to
    the suppression of human freedoms and activities. Anything
    potentially harmful, including commonplace risks and emotional
    experiences, is restricted or eliminated. This leads to a
    paradoxical situation where humans, though safe, are deprived of the
    very essence of living a fulfilled and autonomous life.

    The story is often interpreted as a cautionary tale about the
    overreliance on technology and the unintended consequences of trying
    to engineer a perfect, risk-free society. It explores themes of free
    will, autonomy, and the human spirit, raising questions about the
    cost of safety and the nature of human happiness.

    "With Folded Hands" is considered a classic in science fiction
    literature, particularly for its early exploration of themes that
    would become central to the genre in the context of artificial
    intelligence and robotics.

I have been post/transhuman since a secular doctor played Rabbi with his 
"Bris Milah" (or maybe the cutting of my umbilical?) and quickly 
followed by a whole lot of swaddling and diapering, but for myself, 
learning to read/rite/rithmatic was a serious inflection point as was my 
learning to drive/ride/fly and more aptly to this reflection, type and 
then write computer code.

The Kickstarter "Hypershell" project 
<https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hypershell/one-horsepower-ai-exoskeleton-powers-your-everyday-adventure-0/description> 
I funded is close (Jan 2024?) to delivering a 1hp lower-body exoskeleton 
which I *hope* will relieve my aging hip-joint/connective-tissue 
degeneration/pain to the point of reversing the downward spiral that has 
been characterized by it's effect on my mobility and therefore general 
well-being. I don't have any other prosthetics/bionics (yet) beyond my 
clothing and various minor dental (fillings/crowns) agumentations and 
reading glasses, but I expect (hope fervently) this Exo to meet me 
somewhere between "clothing" and my various vehicles (historically 
bicycles, tractors, airplanes, pickups, cars, RVs, dumptrucks, etc.) as 
part of my extended phenotype. My first (and almost only) short story 
co-written with ChatGPT was on a speculative adventure where my Exo had 
built in a ChatGPT like interface who started out doing the simplest and 
most obvious tasks but slowly became my "hiking friend" and "close 
confidante" parallel to "my new bar friend"...

- St3v3 (3==E to reflect the evolving hybridization?)
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