Joseph's challenge; "All you seem to be doing is redefining terms. Bandwidth = the Grail. Jesus = Simulation Programmer. And none of your redefinitions seems to proceed from a convincing argument. And what "infinite continuum of life" are you talking about? Please, try to make your case without throwing out a cascade of ill-defined terms. Start with a defense of the reality of contemporary Christianity. Because if you're trying to convince that majority of Transhumanists who are Atheists or Agnostics, that's the first hurdle you'll need to overcome. And thusfar, I see no reason to put any more credence in your Christianity than I do in classical Roman paganism.
So I the Christian Transhumanist respond; Thanks Joseph! Let me give that a try. I had better have the Holy Grail for you, and I think I do :) It has everything to do with your concern with ill-defined terms. Synthesis of terms is paramount. But it takes lots of work on both sides...the transmitter and the receiver. A lifetime of work!
Let's proceed with the definition of life, using the most advanced concepts in information theory: Life is an information gathering and utilizing system that maintains order upon itself. Life replicates, and modifies itself through feedback loop of doing-learning-modifying-doing... This definition is directly influenced by Cybernetics and Information Theory. Life learns adapts and changes its behavior. This "circular causal" relationship is necessary and sufficient for a cybernetic perspective. Life is special because of its signaling and self-sustaining processes.
Then imagine a living universe; a vast homeostatic super organism that actively produces the conditions necessary for its survival. It is a closed loop of Creation-Evolution-Creation. Plot this over time like a Stephen Hawking space-time diagram but actually plot information in the Claude Shannon sense, instead of space, because we know that matter and life at its deepest level are information.
What might this living universe look like? This is where Cutting edge Physics, Greek Philosophy, and Early Christianity come in. Using peer reviewed references, I need to model Creation- Evolution-Recapitulation (in the sense of salvation to get us back)- to Creation. I found over the years that this model is best approached using the concept of block time. With block time we must remember General Relativity, where time is a dimension not a dynamic. "The hardest thing to realize about this type of diagram is that they represent the past, present, and future all in one diagram. The evolution of physical systems is represented by looking at successive horizontal slices in the diagram at successive times. Space-time diagrams represent evolution, but they don't evolve themselves."
The central point of this torus is what Christians know as the Rapture, some Transhumanist call it the Singularity, and those on the fringe call it the Rapture of The Nerds :) The central point is where Shannon entropy is at its lowest with information compressed to a SIMPLE phrase like; "I Am". I stress simple because here God is not composed or divisible by any physical or metaphysical means. This is often called the Miracle of Being. btw, Have you ever apprehended the Miracle of Being? anyway, I have called this point The Critical Point of Understanding and the Supreme State of Being. It is singular not plural, not PAGAN..sorry :)
If the central point of this torus is I Am then what proceeds above that point is the answer to the question; Now What? The upper portion of the torus represents the creation; big bang let there be light. There is cosmic inflation and noisy chaos as far as information is concerned. He made a difference.
From the radius of the torus down to the bottom represents the compression of information into the elements and the appearance of life. Here it is critical to define life in terms of information. With life, significant information processing starts at the immanent or local level. The Nobel Prize winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann defines life in terms of information most elegantly in his book the Quark and The Jaguar. He calls life an Information and gathering and utilizing system.
The bright blue region at the bottom is where we are today growing in understanding. This part of the Torus represents the learning strategies in the evolution of life and the Christian concept of worship. With my model above, life looks for a winning strategy and finds it! Sustained forever as in the "infinite continuum of life". Like anything else you do for fun and as a form of expression...You get to do it again a different way.
From here you can handle the rest if you got an education and pay attention to the world. But here is my challenge to you and any other readers; read the bible, take a quote, or a concept and ask me to reconcile it in terms of Christian Transhumanism. I need the exercise.
I'm sorry, but this is just gibberish. It's neither Christian nor Transhumanist. Nowhere do you come close to attempting to present "a defense of the reality of contemporary Christianity".
ReplyDeleteYou know, the Christianity that states that the Universe and life (specifically humanity) required a god to be created, that humanity is somehow inherently flawed and required the redemptive power of Jesus' death to atone for, that there are somehow rules by which we are expected to live by that govern the minutiae of not only our actions but our thoughts, disobeying which is grounds for some supernatural remnant of our personality and memory to exist in eternal torment after our physical bodies are dead. Let's forget about the talking serpent and Noah's ark; you don't even seem to be able to acknowledge the very necessity of a Savior, and the consequences for failing to acknowledge him.
Perhaps I'm not living on as lofty a philosophical plane as you, but that's what 99.99% of the believing Christians on this planet believe, and if you're going to posit Christianity as a system that can viably be connected to Transhumanism, you're going to need to defend that ideological underpinning before you start talking about Genesis somehow being a metaphor for entropy, or whatever the hell you're saying.
I'm beginning to think this is just a spoof, and if so, well played, sir. I fell into the trap. If not, your Christianity is so unique as to be singular, and probably deserving of a label all its own, so as not to be confused with the Christianity that's practiced by 2+ billion people on this planet.
Joseph says "I'm sorry, but this is just gibberish."
ReplyDeleteAnd I hope this is because you did not try hard in school,. and not a Congenital issue :) Christian Transhumanism is like one of those pictures that you have to stare at for a while to see the hidden meaning. If you can't see the truth in it, don't worry, think of it like being colorblind. Those folks get along pretty well in life...just kidding. THIS IS SERIOUS dammit.
I will help you make the connection; It is Christian because it shows a world created by the Son of Man through word..you know, like it says in the gospel of John;
"In the beginning was the Word, etc. The first fourteen verses are introductory. In order to set at rest all controversy the Divine nature of Jesus, John glances, in the first three verses, back to the beginning, recorded in Genesis, and affirms: (1) That he who was afterwards manifest as the Christ existed before creation began; (2) that he was present with God; (3) that he was divine; (4) that he was the Word; (5) that by or through him were all things made that were made (Joh 1:3). The first chapter of Genesis helps us to understand its meaning. God said, Let there be light (Ge 1:3), Let there be a firmament (Ge 1:6), Let the earth bring forth (Ge 1:11), etc. and it was done. God exhibits his creative power through the Word, and manifests his will through the Word. God creates and speaks to man through the Word (try to make the connection here Joseph, make that information, make that Digital Physics, Joseph). As we clothe our thoughts in words, so God reveals his will by the Word, and when the Word is clothed in flesh, as the Teacher of men, we recognize it as Jesus Christ."
It is Christian because it shows a savior, and a way to salvation and eternal life. In the new testament, Ephesians 10 which speaks of all things in heaven and earth being gathered up in Christ." "It means that the development which was broken in Adam is resumed by Christ and fulfilled in him. In Christ the new mankind has started. That which mankind was to become... However, not only mankind but the whole cosmos finds its fulfillment in Christ." Paul Tillich calls this idea "The profound doctrine of a transcendent humanism, a humanism which says that Christ is the fulfillment of essential man, of the Adamic nature." "And we can become fully human through participation in this full humanity which has appeared in Christ. This includes eternal life, and similitude with God with respect to participation in infinity."
It is Transhumanist because; " Transhumanism is an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of science and technology to improve human mental and physical characteristics and capacities. The movement regards aspects of the human condition, such as disability, suffering, disease, aging, and involuntary death as unnecessary and undesirable".
And it is Christian Transhumanisim because it provides coherence in an otherwise chaotic world caused by willful ignorance. That is the human imperfection you are talking about. The remedy is coherence through a little love and understanding using any ethical method available to us... GOD BLESS THE TRANSHUMANISTS!
btw, I really appreciate your challenges.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say, it's about damn time you set up a blog!
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