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Longest Thread Ever

On the day that Kasparov was defeated by Deep Blue, I found myself thinking of the film "Being There'' (1979). The chess champion said there was something about the computer he did not understand, and it frightened him. There were moments when the computer seemed to be . . . thinking. Of course, chess is not a game of thought but of mathematical strategy; Deep Blue has demonstrated it is possible to be very good at it without possessing consciousness.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-being-there-1979
 
what is the distinction between intelligence and consciousness? or, will and purpose?

can a machine have "will" or "purpose"?

We often criticize others for being "calculating" rather than "caring". So, of course, all large corporates hire Madison Ave image-massagers to develop a "caring" corporate identity for consumers while hiring, often, accountants who are willing to smooth over some of the wrinkles in the corp image for the investors. . .

I think a computer could do that kind of work pretty good. But some people would still see it as weird or "Non-human" imagery.
 
"consciousness" in humans is the ability to interpret inputs form our senses in a unique way. A way that is going to be different in some important respects from what other humans would "see" from the exact same inputs.
 
computers' processing capabilities are just what is written into the program code, which required some human to think it over and write that provision into the program.
 
human consciousness is nested in a very huge context of personal history/experience/training/thinking, in a virtually unique sense of things. A computer can be programmed to mimic ordinary reactions, but our extraordinary capacity for "personality" greatly exceeds the programming capacity.
 
And, the working theory about becoming the longest thread does, essentially, seem to require me outliving the rest of the planet. . . . which is what I intend to do.

Well, there you go, we won't even need any other people. What is the plan? Nuke everyone? anti aging machine?
 
meanwhile, feel free to go on a rant anytime you like in here. We've had some do some counting exercises, even.
 
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