Theos-Talk Archives (September 2005 Message tt00139)

Whenever I study a particular art, it improves my awareness in other,
seemingly unrelated aspects. This is one such occasion where my
interest in computer science lets me deeper understand the workings of
a human brain, and possibly more.

A colleague challenged me on something I mentioned a while back. It
was about using artificial intelligence systems that simulated the
neurons in the brain. He believed that the AI system, if it emulated
the human mind perfectly (meaning simulating all activity down to the
individual chemicals that are diffused in the neurons) it would
undoubtedly find a way to [a] become self-aware, and [b] find a way to
breach its original program and expand upon itself. It's a classic
case of AI Paranoia, which I never believed was possible.

So I started on designing a program to in fact, simulate the neurons
in the brain. I drew a rough plan, showing the feedback systems of the
neurons.

A feedback system occurs when 2 parts of a system pass data back and
forth, modifying it slightly in between passes. It can be compared to
when you tell someone a story, and they tell you it back using their
own wording. After a while, the story will be completely different by
just changing minor details each time it is told. This is similar to
how memories are stored in the brain.

However, not just the neurons themselves communicate messages. Systems
of neurons form and create their own groups, and those groups
communicate with each other. This adds another dimension to the
equation, because it increases the number of feedback systems almost
exponentially. This was to be expected, though, and does not really
compromise the integrity of the program.

I drew diagrams, and explained to him over and over that the systems
were still contained within the program and could not leave their
environment. There is no way the system could spill out.

Then it hit me. Not only did the "neurons" in the program form
systems, but the data itself did. This adds even more dimensions that
I wasn't aware of in the beginning. So what does this mean?

Nothing. The data was contained within the program's allotted memory.
Still no way of it leaving under normal circumstances.

But there was the abnormal circumstance--the ever increasing data from
the feedback systems would begin to fill up a lot of memory. If it
were to cause an overflow, there would be unpredictable results (most
likely crashing the program or altering other areas of memory that are
used by other programs). However, if he were to notice some kind of
anomaly, he may try to exploit it. Repeated trying would eventually
bring constant, predictable results, allowing him to control--at least
in part--his environment.

How is this any different from occult practice? Most of us train for
years in order to achieve perfected results, using all different
techniques until it works just right. Are we just designing our own
mind to reach beyond it's normal allotted boundaries to modify the
other programs in the universe?

-Mark H.

-- 
Mark Hamilton Jr.
waking.adept@gmail.com