PeterKinnon
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Sadly we here observe a retreat within the simple language of mathematics. I am not decrying mathematics nor am I underestimating the great value of that language in extending knowledge of the physical world by bypassing the complexities and irrelevancies common to the natural languages.
It does, however, suffer from two major weaknesses:
Firstly, like all languages, it is capable of generating fictions - entities and scenarios which have no correspondence wit the real world.
Secondly, it is, like all reasoning or computational processes, raw data sensitive. This is expressed in the venerable IT mantra "Garbage In - Garbage Out"
The second of these is, I believe, the main culprit in generating the conclusions that... (read 464 more words →)
I apologize for the diversion but would be most interested to hear your reasoning behind the attribution of computational power to evolution . (I presume you are referring to the process of evolution of living systems by natural selection) PK
Unfortunately this entire discussion is deeply flawed.
Why? GIGO - Garbage in - Garbage out.
However good the logical systems used for processing information they are of no avail without meaningful input data.
Present technologies cannot be used as a basis for prediction because of the unexpected bifurcations and inherent non-linearities in technological developments.
Further problems stem from the use of the very inappropriate buzz-word "Singularity". Certainly a dramatic change is imminent, but this is better considered as a phase transition - the emergence of a new and dominant non-biological phase of the on-going evolutionary process that can be traced back at least as far as stellar nucleosynthesis.
Indeed, the inevitable self-assembly of this new entity can be clearly observed in what we at present call the Internet.
The broad evolutionary model which supports this proposition is outlined (very informally) in my latest book: "The Goldilocks Effect: What Has Serendipity Ever Done For Us?" It is a free download in e-book formats from the "Unusual Perspectives" website