{"id":148794,"date":"2019-12-02T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=148794"},"modified":"2019-12-01T08:51:30","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T08:51:30","slug":"thoughts-about-thoughts-journey-into-machine-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/12\/thoughts-about-thoughts-journey-into-machine-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts about Thoughts: Journey into Machine Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seeking Respite . . .\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We seek respite from a relentless assault of information bombarding our senses. An onslaught of daily life trials, media, commercials, TV\/radio\/music, ambient noise levels, demanding response. Consciousness, conscience beg retreat.<\/p>\n

A quiet dinner with family, a glass of sherry, hugging a child, a good novel, a deep sleep, a smile from a loved one, a halt in bombing, nutritious food, clean water, a warm fire . . . temporary escapes from the hostile world about us, endlessly mastering our minds to believe, consume, take up arms against the foe! Information tides flood our lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are tides in the affairs of man, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We are captive to knowing, as uncertainty thrives! There is hope in the palm of our hand: tides, solutions, problems, doubt . . . \u201cTo open or not to open, that is the question!\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Phone, camera, library, alarm, calculator, games, translator \u2013 is there no end to services.\u00a0 Essential! Addictive!<\/p>\n

A New Ontology . . . <\/strong><\/p>\n

A small window beckons! Habit presses!<\/p>\n

\u201cHabit is our second nature!\u201d <\/em>said Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). Salvation for man<\/em>, he said, is to know what he ought to believe, to know what he out to desire, and to know what he out to do.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Words from a medieval scholastic theologian, defender of the faith, counselor to mind, courier to heaven.<\/p>\n

Words fuel mind with beliefs, desires, rules, commands, demands — order for mind! What have we become? We are I-Phone; screen, images, apps, archives, alarms, words! A new oneness! Man is machine! Machine is man! Do we need other? Machines need batteries! \u00a0No worry, a rabbit will provide.<\/p>\n

We have come far from the time Pablo Neruda (Full Powers,<\/em> 1962), poetically claimed, the first word was uttered:<\/p>\n

\u00a0The word was born in the blood,<\/em>
\n\u00a0it grew in the dark body, pulsing, <\/em>
\n\u00a0and took flight with the lips and mouth.<\/em>
\n. . . even now there is no thunder <\/em>
\nthat thunders with the iron sound<\/em>
\nof that word, the first word uttered:<\/em>
\n. . . perhaps it was just a whisper, a raindrop,<\/em>
\nbut its cascade still falls and falls.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Words liberated mind amidst a desperate need to know! Search, explore, label, order reality now to an inherent inclination to describe, understand, predict, control; functions of brain in context: Mind!<\/p>\n

Poetry, music, art, creativity! It is said: \u201cMusic is what emotions sound like!\u201d With a click, a lighted screen appears, inviting inquiry. Information torrents flow: fact, fiction, lies, deceit, betrayal; never truths, only endless representations, distancing us from the immediacy of the moment displayed.<\/p>\n

Seduction of the senses tempts us with words, images, sounds; we cannot ignore the call! We are, in a moment, alerted to a new reality, a digital reality, a binary code of 0\u2019s and 1\u2019s, quantum reality, and beyond! A digital reality! At last escape from place and mind! How distant from Neruda\u2019s poetic first word uttered! What was the human first word? \u201cFire?\u201d Or \u201crun?\u201d<\/p>\n

And for the digital world, was the first word: stochastic, Markovian, 0-1, quantum, algorithm? Sprach Zarathustra<\/em>, Richard Strauss: a thigh bone hurled into the air. And them AI (artificial intelligence). When does \u201cartificial\u201d become natural? Is AI, Nietzsche\u2019s \u201cOverman\u201d in thus spoke Zarathrustra (\u201cSprach Zarathrustra?\u201d).<\/p>\n

Have we forgotten animals, centaurs, chimera, cyborgs, hybrids, minotaur, robots, synths?\u00a0 Bionic man once raced across black and white TV screens, reminding us of endless possibilities, but never the loss or betrayal of mind. What should we make of a hand-held window to the world \u2013 past, present, future!<\/p>\n

Existence! We are one with a glowing window in our palm, filling us with decisions. \u201cTo call or not to call!\u201d \u201cGoogle!\u201d Certainty, uncertainty, who cares? We seek more amid tenuous habits, beliefs, hopes. We are prisoner now to habit, addiction forced upon. Take away our phone! Why live? Nietzsche claimed the last man would want only comfort and security. Tradeoffs for soul, possibility, diversity?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat have we missed? What do we not know? What places us at risk? What offers us favor?\u201d Information negotiation amid rapid access to knowledge, wisdom, impulse. 5G will offer faster speeds, solutions, confusion.\u00a0 We are machine! We withdraw for sanity! Stop! Start! Flaws, bugs, hackers!<\/p>\n

Information is personal! \u201cYou are there!\u201d<\/em> said Walter Cronkite, venerable TV icon.\u00a0 Events in distant lands bring awareness, judgment, action. \u201cYou are there!\u201d <\/em>\u00a0But we are not!\u00a0 Floods in Bangladesh!\u00a0 It is what it is? Killing and rape in Myanmar! Tragic! Helpless! Plastic wrapper on food! Do not purchase in future. So little choice! Share opinions on political candidates. Minions reply!<\/p>\n

A new reality unfolds! A new human-machine nature! We are what we Goggle, what we retrieve, what we save, what we erase, what we trash, what we junk.\u00a0 Our servant, now waiting in the wings, for approaching times: machine-human!<\/p>\n

Too much is asked of us! Treasured virtues no longer apply: justice, honor, courage, honesty, compassion, patience. Do virtues matter amid personal immediacy? Who said these were admirable? Ancients! Priests! Philosophers, Dictators, Prophets! Gone! Commission and omission sins! \u201cTell me, Aristotle, what would you do with an I-Phone.? Fun, eh?\u00a0 Google yourself, Ari!\u201d<\/p>\n

What can we do? What should we do? Conscience asks too much of us! Foes are legion!<\/p>\n

I am only one……. but I am one!\u00a0 <\/em>
\nIn me are others! Many others!\u00a0 <\/em>
\nMany denied me! Many hurt me!<\/em>
\nMany cared! <\/em>
\nMany………<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tests every day! Tests of nature, character, breeding, identity!<\/p>\n

We flee from foe, return for struggle, delude ourselves! Mirror image after shower. Body apparent! Mind? What did we do before mirrors? Narcissus used a pond! Image essential. Deceit possible! How to we access mind?\u00a0 Ahhh, daily encounters with self and I-phone!<\/p>\n

\u201cAye that\u2019s the rub!\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thoughts on thoughts on thoughts . . . . . . <\/strong><\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Emeritus Professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii\u2019s Manoa Campus in Honolulu, Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu. \u00a0He is known internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry. In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 21 books and more than 300 articles, tech reports, and popular commentaries. His<\/em> TMS articles may be accessed<\/em> HERE<\/a> and he can be reached at <\/em>marsella@hawaii.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We seek respite from a relentless assault of information bombarding our senses. An onslaught of daily life trials, media, commercials, TV\/radio\/music, ambient noise levels, demanding response. Consciousness, conscience beg retreat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":97653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}