Author Archives: dgermann

We are the ones who can take time and reflection away from productive things to be truly productive—of humanity. :- Doug.

If we develop an intelligence 5,000 times our own, or it develops itself, how do we control it, or protect ourselves? We might install it in a human. Which one? Several of us? Or we install us in it? Which … Continue reading →

Tell me some things I cannot know. Only imagine. If that. :- Doug.

Humanity does not have a future we have futures we may not all live in the same orbit :- Doug.

So just what is human? We might not know till later, centuries from now. Or we might be in a position to design humanicity ourselves. Or at least ask the question of ourselves and the generations. That too is a … Continue reading →

The daily things that make life easier decide for us. Defaults take over. Rebels in our fantasies, but when did we act? So if we let the little intelligent things we create take over our “little choices” (sounds less important … Continue reading →

In truth we might decide to downgrade humanity. The decision would be taken in myriad small non-decisions by large numbers of people. Let the system, the algorithm, the smart application choose. It chooses well enough. There are other things I’d … Continue reading →

Maybe a major service of elders is to record that desires and experiences were once important. :- Doug.

Humanity may just end not in fire or ice or the sun going super nova, but by fading out, becoming irrelevant in a world of data being the only thing, or super algorithms. That is possible. What roles does that … Continue reading →

Once we give sway to algorithms, allow them to make say medical decisions for us we become superfluous. Like the wild animals. Birds. Canada Geese. Monarch butterflies. Bees. Snakes. Frogs. Wheat. Corn. Conversation. Growth. Algorithms do not need a why. … Continue reading →

Will algorithms for artificial intelligence learn to tell stories, to manipulate our desires to rebel? :- Doug.

Whatever the machines do or tell us, we will like our stories better, and we will always be rebels. :- Doug.

We seem to be the large numbers species: we think in terms of math and doing things in “scale.” The only critters who outnumber us are the insects and the microorganisms, and they still hold some sway over us. But. … Continue reading →

Humanity is a meaning-making animal. This is the ultimate power. Meaning seems to be the glory, the top, and is not glory the purpose of power? :- Doug.

How do we—we—change the course, not of history, not of the world, but of humanity? This people, this place, this now, find ourselves in a fast moving stream. We see rapids coming. What path choose? :- Doug.

Where is today’s imagination centered? On music and moving pictures? Are these stories? What do they tell us? Our stories can be larger. It is up to you. :- Doug.