I really like this series! Haven't heard of the Noosphere before and am looking forward to more. It reminds me of an idea that occurred to me during grad school that I haven't heard others talk about and myself haven't followed up on, but seems somewhat related. I was thinking of this stage of computational evolution on Earth as being po…
I really like this series! Haven't heard of the Noosphere before and am looking forward to more. It reminds me of an idea that occurred to me during grad school that I haven't heard others talk about and myself haven't followed up on, but seems somewhat related. I was thinking of this stage of computational evolution on Earth as being potentially similar to the moment when life made the jump from using only chemical signaling to also electro-chemical signaling (i.e. a nervous system). As a nervous system is capable of computing much faster (and more capacity?) than chemical signals, this no doubt led to many changes. One can imagine that organisms with nervous systems seemed to have an "awakening", and that decisions that were previously governed by chemical reactions could now to made using electro-chemical signals much more quickly (sometimes to the chemical system's chagrin?). It would have led to increased competition/cooperation through natural selection. And if you think of the unfolding of natural selection itself as having a place in the noosphere (as viewed from the "alien" in your article), then Earth's computational "thinking" would have drastically changed (sorry a bit vague).
Anyways, the moment happening now is the ability to leap from electro-chemical computing (e.g. our nervous system) to purely electrical computing, which is again a big step in computational speed and capacity. This should similarly lead to a sort of "awakening" as we unlock previously locked ways of perceiving the universe. But also, these electrical computation will be able to make decisions on faster timescales than us (sometimes to our chagrin). In terms of when the sparks of AGI began, I would posit that it is at least as old at the transition from chemical signaling to electro-chemical signaling. And by that line of thinking, probably began with chemical life itself (at the risk of sounding cliché).
I never dug into this idea in detail, and I would be thrilled if this idea inspires you.
I really like this series! Haven't heard of the Noosphere before and am looking forward to more. It reminds me of an idea that occurred to me during grad school that I haven't heard others talk about and myself haven't followed up on, but seems somewhat related. I was thinking of this stage of computational evolution on Earth as being potentially similar to the moment when life made the jump from using only chemical signaling to also electro-chemical signaling (i.e. a nervous system). As a nervous system is capable of computing much faster (and more capacity?) than chemical signals, this no doubt led to many changes. One can imagine that organisms with nervous systems seemed to have an "awakening", and that decisions that were previously governed by chemical reactions could now to made using electro-chemical signals much more quickly (sometimes to the chemical system's chagrin?). It would have led to increased competition/cooperation through natural selection. And if you think of the unfolding of natural selection itself as having a place in the noosphere (as viewed from the "alien" in your article), then Earth's computational "thinking" would have drastically changed (sorry a bit vague).
Anyways, the moment happening now is the ability to leap from electro-chemical computing (e.g. our nervous system) to purely electrical computing, which is again a big step in computational speed and capacity. This should similarly lead to a sort of "awakening" as we unlock previously locked ways of perceiving the universe. But also, these electrical computation will be able to make decisions on faster timescales than us (sometimes to our chagrin). In terms of when the sparks of AGI began, I would posit that it is at least as old at the transition from chemical signaling to electro-chemical signaling. And by that line of thinking, probably began with chemical life itself (at the risk of sounding cliché).
I never dug into this idea in detail, and I would be thrilled if this idea inspires you.