“Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion,’ and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make.”
Change this to :
Let an “ultramanipulated neural circuit in modified brains” be defined as a mind that can far surpass all the intellectual-emotional-cognitive activities of any man however complex. Since the design of minds is one of these activities, an ultramanipulated mind could design even better minds; there would then unquestionably be a ‘manipulation explosion,’ and the state of present day man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultramodified mind is the last invention that man need ever make."
If we modify the structures of our minds, there is no limit to the kinds of universes and experiences we could possibly have. We could experience layers upon layers of simulated matter-reality-universes. Obviously we could not know what would be going on with our present mind, and it would be farther and farther removed from our present reality-universe.
This brings on the question of what exactly our universe is. It could really be just a technological quirk of some previous civilization that had exceeded its own mental contraints by directly modifying their own minds-brains. We could be inside one of their simulations, or maybe they inhabit a universe with completely different laws of physics and our universe is just a small quirk experiment that they threw away in some corner of a greatly vaster multiverse. Then, that civilization could be within another simulator, which is within another universe invented by some robot etc. The layers could go on forever.
This also brings on the question of how the first living cell came about. Well then maybe it is a simple invention of another mind living in any kind of parallel universe with any kinds of laws of physics. But if the hidden layers are trillions or even infinite, then the whole concept of science breaks down. We can locally discover some laws within some local experiences, but being within (or simulated in) another vaster universe, we only know a small portion. If the laws are infinite and the layers are infinite, no matter how much you can discover, there will always be infinite other laws behind infinite other HIDDEN LAYERS OF REALITY.
What is interesting is the fact that there is no difference between the outside universe or reality as perceived in 3 dimensions and through reductionism (matter - atoms etc.) and a simulated universe in a virtual reality; they are essentially the same.
What really counts is the information structure, the mind perceiving the information and the external item furnishing the information. If the “external” item is really in the same mind or simply signals from a computer doesn’t really change anything at all. Reality - universe - matter is INFORMATION and nothing else hence infinitely manipulable.
An interesting corollary of the HIDDEN LAYERS interpretation is that all religions may be simultaneously true. Since there are trillions of layers, each lower layer being the fundament of a higher layer, then at a certain layer the bible may be 100 % true, but the bible religion layer is above a layer where god is actually a god in a vat and is imagining all our universe, and thinks he is really god without knowing that he is a god in a vat.
The civilization that is performing the god in a vat experiment may actually be a layer above a more fundamental layer where the laws of physics and reality are completely different. And that universe would be a layer above a more fundamental layer where it is a computer simulation.
If this layering goes on forever, each layer rests upon some other layer where some of them correspond to a religion. If this goes on forever, any possible universe is contained within another indefinately.
After all we as humans are based upon the layer of organs, then cells, then molecules, then atoms, then physics etc. Of course the hidden layers I am imaging are much more fundamental than these since they are either simulations, laws of physics, brains in a vat etc.
If a layer is more fundamental than another, that is, if it is the “substrate” upon which another lies, this denotes that the manipulation of that layer will completely change all the layers above it. For example, we lie upon a layer of “laws of physics” upon which all else is built up. Now if you change those laws everything else will change. If we are a brain in a vat, but someone changes the vat and connects it to second brain in a vat for example, then the entire universe - matter - reality of the first brain changes completely.
But in the end the only thing that counts is the relationship between information, the brain - mind that is perceiving the information and the item furnishing it. Since information can be manipulated with no limits at all from a computer or another modified brain furnishing it, then all possible universe can be created.
An interesting case is “circular layers”. If we are a brain in a vat and that vat is in turn inside a computer simulation, and the simulation is just the original brain in a vat again, then the layers are infinitely recursive and are each the fundament of each other. This is a bit like an atom that is made up of itself again only a smaller version. Since even the smaller atom is once again made up of itself, then this recursion goes on forever, there is no fundament, the fundament of an item is the item itself. Size doesn’t even matter anymore since the containing items go on forever, there is no larger item or smaller, just a relation where an item is made up of a “smaller” version of itself.
A case is a mind - brain that is furnishing information to itself, manipulating this information and furnishing it again to itself in a feedback loop. In this case the mind thinks it is manipulating some external reality when in reality it is simply talking to itself, although it is not aware of this, since the output information circuit is separate and hidden from the inputs since the outputs go through a circuit that simulates an external reality before going back to the mind again.
MIND → manipulates a simulated external reality → results return to MIND. Again no fundament, just information.
Thank you for reminding me that ontological structure is effected deeply by the principals of hierarchy.
Wait a minute, buddy, you got me…
Superstrings just lost a bit of esteem in me…
You’ve pointed out how easy it is to dream up “what probably could be”, but such a thing actually existing – isn’t so simple.
Why do I feel like a fractal microcosm is coming back to haunt me when I least expect it? Maybe because all instances of particles are actually aetheric shapes, made of themselves, in a “spike” sort of form: a flux within infinite space, which has no end because it has no limit and needs no limit/end.
I’ll bait my traps and load my guns with white-holes now, hopeing and praying that those fractal dips can’t handle their opposite.
But at the same time, the mind is a part of reality, growing throughout millions of years as a part of reality. The mind’s syncronity with our planetary rotations and ELF frequencies – is a perfect example of one being in a sort of quasi-union with the other, almost as if they were the same thing.
Posts like these are why I love ILP. I have debated about these layers in my own mind for years thinking that there is more than a remote possibility that our universe exists on a bead of sweat on the forehead of a being of another universe and so on. But the idea of humans manufacturing a robot with an intellect greater than their own is terrific; better than Planet of the Apes stuff. You need to write a sci-fi screenplay.
I really enjoyed your input about religion - if only everyone could see the truth in that and embrace the qualities in each that makes us one.
The truth behind spooky action at a distance blows the idea of layers out of the water.
What happens to the photon when it gets to, say, layer 51? Not sure how that’s possible seeing as it manifests itself in the spatial dimensions.
The dimensions, because of speed, are infinite. This may give you the ‘endless reality’ result you are looking for.
Because of speed, this universe is infinite. Layers is just a poor word for it.
Layers have boundaries independant of eachother, dimensions are within eachother. Reality isn’t ‘stacked’…
Maybe because all instances of particles are actually aetheric shapes, made of themselves, in a “spike” sort of form: a flux within infinite space, which has no end because it has no limit and needs no limit/end.