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<p>It seems (maybe only to me?) that "will" is what defines the
intersection of memory and imagination? The
free-will-less-ness-ers among us (ala <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/24/determined-life-without-free-will-by-robert-sapolsky-review-the-hard-science-of-decisions">Sopolsky</a>)
may find this an entirely specious thing to consider or discuss
(though without free will, what means "specious" or "discuss" or
"consider" sans free-will?). <br>
</p>
<p>I recently discovered <a href="https://lexfridman.com/podcast/">Lex
Fridman's podcasts</a> and was quite surprised by several things
(albeit with very limited sampling... all of his most recent
interview with Musk and a bit of his interview with Isaacson and
about half of the Harari one): I don't significantly disagree
with the general mistrust of Musk in his Autistic-ish style and
affect, but I'd say that Lex brings out the best in him, showing
him to be capable of thoughtful and even empathetic-ish
observations. As I understand it (from my reading of Isaacson's
biography of Musk) brother Kimball may also be a significantly
similar "regulating influence" on Elon. Grimes maybe, maybe
not. The other mothers of his children, same-same... probably
each and all of them for a period of time or within certain
frameworks. And again, same with the children... though maybe
projection on my part having been moderately well-regulated in
several modes by my own children during each of their phases
(right up to their current middle-agedness).</p>
<p>As an aside, Fridman's other interviews also all sound
potentially fascinating... though I cringe at the fact/thought of
interviews with Netanyahu, KanYE, Kushner, Rogan... the
commentary I've read around those interviews tends to skew toward
"how could you normalize (amplify?) those A**holes by even giving
them the time of the day???!!!?". Lex's interviews are
definitely long-form (1-2 hours) compared to today's
tik-tok/ad-jingle/bumper-sticker/snark-pith calibrated
sound-bitery. I find myself avoiding them for this reason (not
wanting to commit to listening past some of my own prejudices long
enough to hear what they are really about?) but recognize (and
have already begun to practice) that as with long-form written
journalism, I can take it in bits, like I might eat a rich holiday
meal... not try to gulp it down quickly in one sitting like a
TV-dinner (for you X-ers, "Hot-Pocket", and Millenials == "??")
for the mind. <br>
</p>
<p>My recent fascination with Deacon's "Teleodynamics", Jeff
Hawkins' take on the structure/function of the neocortex and Ian
McGilchrist's updated take on brain bicameralism (<a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_and_His_Emissary">Master
and Emissary</a>) feeds into this question of the intersection
of memory and imagination and the implications of Transformer
Models and other Generative Models in general. My direct
experience with GPT-4 and DALL-E is significant (many 10s of hours
of engagement) but still a drop in the bucket. There are times
when I feel that all I've done is engaged with an incredibly
high-dimensional french-curve/bezier spline and thereby been able
to smoothly interpolate/extrapolate a handful of interesting (to
me) data points into what feels like a powerful elaboration of
what is implied by said curve-fit in the past (unknown knowns?)
and future (unknown unknowns)? When I'm not totally enraptured
by the (apparent?) novelty (relative to my
expectations/predictions) of it's responses I'm generally
disappointed at it's limited creativity... and left puzzling
over the question of "novelty vs creativity".</p>
<p>Bumble,</p>
<p> - Steve<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/13/23 10:27 AM, Marcus Daniels
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:2DAF2505-4741-4E98-A3BF-6E787955660E@snoutfarm.com">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">It seems to me that neither Musk and Thiel are interested in the unknown. They are interested in doing things they can already imagine. For Musk I thought that was because it is how he raises money. Now I think he is not imagining consciousness in a, say, a transporter pattern buffer, he imagines life on the Enterprise bridge in his body. Rockets are comparatively science fictiony for people that can't imagine transport without a car, so he gets some points for that.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">On Nov 13, 2023, at 10:11 AM, glen <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:gepropella@gmail.com"><gepropella@gmail.com></a> wrote:
There's an interesting parallel between the Stross and Gellman pieces: Stross both laments and implicitly appreciates the bureaucracy of getting a book published, where Thiel's aggrieved by the bureaucracy of societal evolution.
It reminds me of the engineering-vs-biology dichotomy (yes, false, like all of them) I came to appreciate after being exposed to enough biomimetics (to kill a horse). Some of us see the world and think about how to change it, build a better world ... or perhaps destroy the world, whatever floats your inner engineer. And some of us see the world and are awestruck, hypnotized, baffled by its qualities (whether beautiful or horrifying). It's easy to give the latter a pass and denigrate the former when confronted with, say, butterflies or the Grand Canyon. And it's easy to give the former a pass when confronted with poverty and war.
But the next time you're at the DMV or arguing with some poor sucker manning the phones at the IRS, it can be useful to remember the falseness of the dichtomy. Similarly, when all you want to do is sleep under the stars and those damned gnats keep homing into your ears, it can be useful to think like an engineer.
Policy and science fiction aren't that far apart.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">On 11/10/23 13:46, Marcus Daniels wrote:
original.png
Peter Thiel Is Taking a Break From Democracy <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/11/peter-thiel-2024-election-politics-investing-life-views/675946/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share"><https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/11/peter-thiel-2024-election-politics-investing-life-views/675946/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share></a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">On 11/10/23 11:26, Roger Critchlow wrote:
Text of Charlie Stross' talk to Next Frontiers Applied Fiction Day in Stuttgart on Friday November 10th, 2023, concerning where the techno-industrial elite found their horrible philosophies/secular religions.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/11/dont-create-the-torment-nexus.html">https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/11/dont-create-the-torment-nexus.html</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">
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