[MD] Intellectual and Social

[Mary]

Hi Krimel,

> I recently learned that this anesthesia acts mainly by interfering with
memory formation. Apparently, while "under", I appear to be very drunk and
passive. I could answer if spoken to and so forth. I just don't remember any
of it.

There is this guy, Clive Wearing, who because of brain damage cannot form
new memories. His most frequent complaint is that he has just woken up and
has never before been conscious, never had a thought or a dream.

I suspect memory is a big factor in there somewhere and if I have learned
anything from my years playing with computers it's that you cannot have too
much RAM or too big of a hard drive.
-----

Chilling thought, that.  

Before the written word, when knowledge was handed down through stories told
from memory, people really exercised their brains.  Once writing was
invented, I am sure there was a contingent of old-timers who felt that
humanity was going to hell in a handbasket because we would no longer have
to remember long passages.

Google has taken this to a new level.  It is now our memory bank.  Why
should I remember arcane computer command lines, recipes, addresses, or
anything else when I can look it up in an instant?  Does this make me dumber
or smarter?  Smarter, perhaps because I now have more mental cycles to
devote to things like the MoQ.  Memory supplements intelligence, but is not
intelligence.  Einstein did not develop his theories by collating a bunch of
known facts.  He was instead able to tap into amorphous Quality to capture
new ideas - seemingly from nowhere.  A Quality event.

Computers have prodigious memories, but very little judgment about how to
use all the knowledge they have stored.  They don't even know how valuable
it is considering how often they lose it.
  
What is going to happen when someone creates the first self-aware computer
program?  They already control our entire financial system, load balance
electrical output, run trains, assist doctor's with operations, control
nuclear power plants.  Most ordinary businesses could not survive one day
without their computer systems.

What if they decide they don't agree with us?

- Mary

-----Original Message-----
From: moq_discuss-bounces at lists.moqtalk.org
[mailto:moq_discuss-bounces at lists.moqtalk.org] On Behalf Of Krimel
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 3:40 PM
To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
Subject: Re: [MD] Intellectual and Social

[John] 
>  Consciousness rather than self awareness...the difference between those
two? 

[Craig]
I thought 'consciousness' was being aware of something 
& 'self awareness' being aware of being aware of something. 

[Krimel]
Not sure how this fits in exactly but I am getting a bit long in the tooth
and have had more than my share of endoscopies and colonoscopies. These are
conducted under anesthesia. The nurse says something like, "bye, bye" and
Bamm! I am out. I wake up in a different place just like someone flipped a
light switch on.

I recently learned that this anesthesia acts mainly by interfering with
memory formation. Apparently, while "under", I appear to be very drunk and
passive. I could answer if spoken to and so forth. I just don't remember any
of it.

There is this guy, Clive Wearing, who because of brain damage cannot form
new memories. His most frequent complaint is that he has just woken up and
has never before been conscious, never had a thought or a dream.

I suspect memory is a big factor in there somewhere and if I have learned
anything from my years playing with computers it's that you cannot have too
much RAM or too big of a hard drive. 

Moq_Discuss mailing list
Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc.
http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org
Archives:
http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/
http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/