Mughal
10-18-2004, 02:06 PM
TACKLING THE PURPOSE QUESTION
As for mind and experience, it is true that we humans cannot think of anything beyond our personal experiences. The reason is that once a human has biologically developed to a stage that its brain and the senses become operational, the brain is ready to start processing the information that it receives via the senses. If the brain receives no imformation it will have nothing to process.
As the bits of information stream into the brain it starts storing the information and tries to organise it so that it could make some sort of sense of it. All the information into human brain comes from looking at physical things, listening to physical sounds, smelling the odours of physical things, tasting physical things, touching physical things etc etc etc.
To begin with the brain has no capability to look at nonphysical things, listen to nonphysical things, taste nonphysical things, smell nonphysical things or to feel nonphysical things.
All this information that our brains get is totally and utterly about physical things regardless we are actually able to observe them through our technology at any give time in any given place or not. So right from the start we experience only and only those things that are there and somehow we have a physical connection with them.
As we learn to use our brains, senses and our bodies to interact with things within the given environments, we become more and more experienced people. There comes a stage whereby we start thinking and making sense of things. This is where we become capable of imagining things. However, whatever we think of always bears resemblance to what we aleady have in our minds from whatever we have learned so far. It is not possible for a human to think of something that one has not experienced in any way at all.
For example, think of a fruit that has no resemblance of any kind in any way to anything that you have experienced. You will see that you cannot, try all you like. Because our brains have learned to look at things only in sense of physical objects that have shapes, sizes, colours or some other aspects or features that are most definitely related to their physical properties or charateristics. It is not possible for us to look at something that has no such properties.
Even when we dream, we cannot dream of anything that does not have relationship with our physical experience in all its aspects. It has to have a shape or size or colour etc ie some sort of physical aspects or properties that we already know or understand.
Now this being the case, how do we get the ideas of things that do not really exist as far as our experience is concerned eg gods, angels, demons and ghosts etc etc etc? If we look at these concepts by breaking them down for analysis, we will find that they are definitely based on aspects of our life experiences in everyway. Our capability of imagining things has no limits other than what I have explained. For example, I can imagine an apple that is giant in size, very sweet in taste, very bright in colours or very pleasant in smell etc etc etc. Such an apple actually does not exist but I have no problem in imagining it because I am still thinking of something that has a shape, a size, a colour, a taste, a smell etc etc etc. Likewise, an imaginary being can be created in our minds that really does not exist but it has features that are related to our practcial experiences in every way we can imagine. An authorotative figure, a frightening figure, some kind of giant thing, some one who does something that is impossible according to our sense of things etc etc.
In other words, it is impossible for us to believe in a god or for that matter anything that does not somehow fit-in with our physically experienced things or their aspects in everyway.
Since these are actual facts I have cited to explain things, now the question, why a god who is claimed to be nonphysical and is impossible to know would create a creature to know it when actaully it cannot?
Like all things that exist the brain also has properties of its own which define it or if you like describe it.
So if the question is, what is intelligence? The answer has to be the ability of the brain. Since a thing has an ability for a reason or purpose so what function does the ability of the brain serve? The answer has to be so that the brain is able to process information. Since anything that does something does it for a reason or purpose, so what could be the reason for the brain to have the ability to process the information? The answer has to be to survive.
This is THE PRIMARY reason that makes a computer different from the brain otherwise computer has a memory and ability to process information as well as can sense information and react to it but has no purpose other than what we humans assign to it by means of its hardware and software ie components and programs. In other words humans invented computers so that they serve their purpose and not to become their own boss like humans.
This simple explanation raises questions that take us into various directions. For example, are we able to design the computers that could exist for themselves? The answer is we should be able to do that because we are beginning to understand the ideas involved from our own existence. However, do we have the necessary information and technology to do so just now? The answer is no we do not.
The differences between humans and computers are obvious but they are not impossible to reduce as the time passes and we progress in all kinds of ideas and technologies.
1) The basic computer is a central processing unit which is responsible for processing all kind of data. So we have a bit of human being already to some degree in this sense.
2) We also are familiar with transducer technology whereby we are able to detect some sort of changes in some kinds of variables in our environment at least and affect them eg we have invented temperature, vision and sound etc detectors or sensors and mechanisms to react as desired to control an environment.
Since human brain is very fast when it comes to processing information which it receives from very sensitive as well as wide ranging sensors and has the ample storage capacity, at the moment it cannot be matched. However, there is no reason to not to believe that one day all this should become possible provided we can increase the processor capacity in sense of handling more data at a faster speed as well as invent such transducers as are able to carry out similar functions as the human sensors do and likewise the data storage devices.
All I am saying is that we are on the right track but the track length depends upon the speed of our research and exploration, which in turn depends upon funding of such projects. That means if these kinds of projects found some use then they will get funding otherwise they will be left on the back burner and may even never materialise.
So the whole idea boils down to a workable theory ie such a thing is clearly a possibility but by no means a necessity. I am highly unlikely to be around for another 20 years so I cannot say it will happen in my life time but the new generation is likely to see great advances in science and technology as I have witnessed them in my life time and good luck to them.
The main point to remember is that we have yet to develop such transducers that could detect such data as triggers so called a spectrum of emotional responses as well as the mechanisms that could express those responses. You have to agree that we have covered a lot of ground but I agree that there is still a long way to go.
There arises a question as to, what purpose one should give to a computer, I think it will not be right for human beings to create machines that could take over humans. It will be like signing our own death warrant. It is therefore better to create more powerful computers but that they must continue serving our purpose and not be given the ability to live independent of ourselves.
The question is, what are we ourselves or how exactly do we function as biological machines? The answers as they come through our research and exploration help us decide how we too can design machines that could be like ourselves.
For example, how do we know that brain processes information for survival? The answer is that when we observe and analyse brains and bodies and the environments in which they exist and interact that gives us vast information to answer such like questions.
For example, if a human did not get air to breathe, drink to quench its thirst or food to satisfy its hunger then we know it would not survive. This means to ensure its continuous existence it must prioritise its necessities for existence at any given time in any given place or situation or circumstances ie environment. This is wherein come internal and external body senses, sensors or detectors that help a human brain to find, plan and execute information for ensuring its continuous existence for failing would only mean certain death. Thus human brain if you like is in a way has evolved for its own survival and reproduction and this is what decides its primary purpose ie its own existence. Any other purpose is only secondary to this primary purpose.
If this is the case with humans then what will make computers like ourselves? The computers can be like ourselves if we build and program them for their own survival. Whether that will be a sensible thing to do is another question but we are certainly trying and moving towards the know-how to be able to do so.
Since our survival is ultimate necessity for being able to accomplish anything else so understanding ideologies, politics, societies, cultures and economics is of vital importance for us, because by organising this way we can best guaranty our own survival and well being. The better we plan for our future and the better we execute that plan the better will be our life.
So I think the best people are those who learn how to gather evidences in support of their views and how to logically explain them as well as those that explain how the real world works so that people are more able to understand things and become more and more independent thinkers. This will help them become critical analyzers of the issues that are raised in the real world involving ideologies, politics, societies, cultures and economics etc.
If one helps children understand how their toys work that helps them figure out how the major things in the world work as they grow and so they are no longer easily persuaded by superstition and learn to look at their problems in life in a sensible way and so they are likely to cope with life better. Such people are more likely to be more independent as well as reliable and are better able to contribute towards betterment of others.
People who do not understand mechanisms of life, find life very difficult to cope with and being simple minded always look to others for dependence like babies look for their mothers. They develop victim personality and blame others for their own lacks and mistakes and try to hide from the problems that face them looking for scapegoats. They think that if a hungry lion comes to eat them, by shutting their own eyes they can make the lion disappear so they will be safe ie that way the lion will not be able to eat them because it is not there any more when they shut their own eyes.
As per my explanation above, I do not accept that purposes religions assign for our exitence are valid or of any use to us. That is because the very pourpose for our existence is decided by our own very existence as I have tried to explain. So we better make the best use of our time we have.
The idea of belief in highier authority perhaps arises from the sense of our own weakness and the reason seems to be that we do not feel comfortable with things that seem to be beyond our own control. In other words we feel comfortable only when we feel secure and we cannot feel secure unless we have things under our own control. This is why a husband does not feel comfortable if his wife goes out of his control or a parent does not feel comfortable when his kid gets out of his/her control and likewise the government does not feel comfortable when people get out of its control.
Since life is like that that there are things that we know for a fact that they are not under our control so we look to those amongst us who we think have control over them eg when brothers and sisters start a fight with each other, the weakest of them looks for parents to put things right for him. Likewise weak minded wives look to husbands for putting things right and weak people look to governments for putting things right and when we see such things happening to us that affect us in a bad way but we see that they are not in control of any of us then we assume there must be some one we can appeal to for putting those things right for us. Thus one thing leads us to another and over a period of times ideas become a kind of real things to us.
However even if we accept spirituality yet it has to give us something to help us survive and not to help us destroy ourselves. So even if we must have religions and gods etc, they must serve our purpose or they will not be of any use to us as I see things. The division and hatred between human beings in the name of god or religion is unacceptable no matter what. So that cannot be the purpose of our life in any case because that leads us to utter destruction.
_________________
Observing things gives us information, putting information together in a way that works gives us knowledge, and by reflecting on what we come to know makes us wise. So let us be wise so that we could be nice to each other.
As for mind and experience, it is true that we humans cannot think of anything beyond our personal experiences. The reason is that once a human has biologically developed to a stage that its brain and the senses become operational, the brain is ready to start processing the information that it receives via the senses. If the brain receives no imformation it will have nothing to process.
As the bits of information stream into the brain it starts storing the information and tries to organise it so that it could make some sort of sense of it. All the information into human brain comes from looking at physical things, listening to physical sounds, smelling the odours of physical things, tasting physical things, touching physical things etc etc etc.
To begin with the brain has no capability to look at nonphysical things, listen to nonphysical things, taste nonphysical things, smell nonphysical things or to feel nonphysical things.
All this information that our brains get is totally and utterly about physical things regardless we are actually able to observe them through our technology at any give time in any given place or not. So right from the start we experience only and only those things that are there and somehow we have a physical connection with them.
As we learn to use our brains, senses and our bodies to interact with things within the given environments, we become more and more experienced people. There comes a stage whereby we start thinking and making sense of things. This is where we become capable of imagining things. However, whatever we think of always bears resemblance to what we aleady have in our minds from whatever we have learned so far. It is not possible for a human to think of something that one has not experienced in any way at all.
For example, think of a fruit that has no resemblance of any kind in any way to anything that you have experienced. You will see that you cannot, try all you like. Because our brains have learned to look at things only in sense of physical objects that have shapes, sizes, colours or some other aspects or features that are most definitely related to their physical properties or charateristics. It is not possible for us to look at something that has no such properties.
Even when we dream, we cannot dream of anything that does not have relationship with our physical experience in all its aspects. It has to have a shape or size or colour etc ie some sort of physical aspects or properties that we already know or understand.
Now this being the case, how do we get the ideas of things that do not really exist as far as our experience is concerned eg gods, angels, demons and ghosts etc etc etc? If we look at these concepts by breaking them down for analysis, we will find that they are definitely based on aspects of our life experiences in everyway. Our capability of imagining things has no limits other than what I have explained. For example, I can imagine an apple that is giant in size, very sweet in taste, very bright in colours or very pleasant in smell etc etc etc. Such an apple actually does not exist but I have no problem in imagining it because I am still thinking of something that has a shape, a size, a colour, a taste, a smell etc etc etc. Likewise, an imaginary being can be created in our minds that really does not exist but it has features that are related to our practcial experiences in every way we can imagine. An authorotative figure, a frightening figure, some kind of giant thing, some one who does something that is impossible according to our sense of things etc etc.
In other words, it is impossible for us to believe in a god or for that matter anything that does not somehow fit-in with our physically experienced things or their aspects in everyway.
Since these are actual facts I have cited to explain things, now the question, why a god who is claimed to be nonphysical and is impossible to know would create a creature to know it when actaully it cannot?
Like all things that exist the brain also has properties of its own which define it or if you like describe it.
So if the question is, what is intelligence? The answer has to be the ability of the brain. Since a thing has an ability for a reason or purpose so what function does the ability of the brain serve? The answer has to be so that the brain is able to process information. Since anything that does something does it for a reason or purpose, so what could be the reason for the brain to have the ability to process the information? The answer has to be to survive.
This is THE PRIMARY reason that makes a computer different from the brain otherwise computer has a memory and ability to process information as well as can sense information and react to it but has no purpose other than what we humans assign to it by means of its hardware and software ie components and programs. In other words humans invented computers so that they serve their purpose and not to become their own boss like humans.
This simple explanation raises questions that take us into various directions. For example, are we able to design the computers that could exist for themselves? The answer is we should be able to do that because we are beginning to understand the ideas involved from our own existence. However, do we have the necessary information and technology to do so just now? The answer is no we do not.
The differences between humans and computers are obvious but they are not impossible to reduce as the time passes and we progress in all kinds of ideas and technologies.
1) The basic computer is a central processing unit which is responsible for processing all kind of data. So we have a bit of human being already to some degree in this sense.
2) We also are familiar with transducer technology whereby we are able to detect some sort of changes in some kinds of variables in our environment at least and affect them eg we have invented temperature, vision and sound etc detectors or sensors and mechanisms to react as desired to control an environment.
Since human brain is very fast when it comes to processing information which it receives from very sensitive as well as wide ranging sensors and has the ample storage capacity, at the moment it cannot be matched. However, there is no reason to not to believe that one day all this should become possible provided we can increase the processor capacity in sense of handling more data at a faster speed as well as invent such transducers as are able to carry out similar functions as the human sensors do and likewise the data storage devices.
All I am saying is that we are on the right track but the track length depends upon the speed of our research and exploration, which in turn depends upon funding of such projects. That means if these kinds of projects found some use then they will get funding otherwise they will be left on the back burner and may even never materialise.
So the whole idea boils down to a workable theory ie such a thing is clearly a possibility but by no means a necessity. I am highly unlikely to be around for another 20 years so I cannot say it will happen in my life time but the new generation is likely to see great advances in science and technology as I have witnessed them in my life time and good luck to them.
The main point to remember is that we have yet to develop such transducers that could detect such data as triggers so called a spectrum of emotional responses as well as the mechanisms that could express those responses. You have to agree that we have covered a lot of ground but I agree that there is still a long way to go.
There arises a question as to, what purpose one should give to a computer, I think it will not be right for human beings to create machines that could take over humans. It will be like signing our own death warrant. It is therefore better to create more powerful computers but that they must continue serving our purpose and not be given the ability to live independent of ourselves.
The question is, what are we ourselves or how exactly do we function as biological machines? The answers as they come through our research and exploration help us decide how we too can design machines that could be like ourselves.
For example, how do we know that brain processes information for survival? The answer is that when we observe and analyse brains and bodies and the environments in which they exist and interact that gives us vast information to answer such like questions.
For example, if a human did not get air to breathe, drink to quench its thirst or food to satisfy its hunger then we know it would not survive. This means to ensure its continuous existence it must prioritise its necessities for existence at any given time in any given place or situation or circumstances ie environment. This is wherein come internal and external body senses, sensors or detectors that help a human brain to find, plan and execute information for ensuring its continuous existence for failing would only mean certain death. Thus human brain if you like is in a way has evolved for its own survival and reproduction and this is what decides its primary purpose ie its own existence. Any other purpose is only secondary to this primary purpose.
If this is the case with humans then what will make computers like ourselves? The computers can be like ourselves if we build and program them for their own survival. Whether that will be a sensible thing to do is another question but we are certainly trying and moving towards the know-how to be able to do so.
Since our survival is ultimate necessity for being able to accomplish anything else so understanding ideologies, politics, societies, cultures and economics is of vital importance for us, because by organising this way we can best guaranty our own survival and well being. The better we plan for our future and the better we execute that plan the better will be our life.
So I think the best people are those who learn how to gather evidences in support of their views and how to logically explain them as well as those that explain how the real world works so that people are more able to understand things and become more and more independent thinkers. This will help them become critical analyzers of the issues that are raised in the real world involving ideologies, politics, societies, cultures and economics etc.
If one helps children understand how their toys work that helps them figure out how the major things in the world work as they grow and so they are no longer easily persuaded by superstition and learn to look at their problems in life in a sensible way and so they are likely to cope with life better. Such people are more likely to be more independent as well as reliable and are better able to contribute towards betterment of others.
People who do not understand mechanisms of life, find life very difficult to cope with and being simple minded always look to others for dependence like babies look for their mothers. They develop victim personality and blame others for their own lacks and mistakes and try to hide from the problems that face them looking for scapegoats. They think that if a hungry lion comes to eat them, by shutting their own eyes they can make the lion disappear so they will be safe ie that way the lion will not be able to eat them because it is not there any more when they shut their own eyes.
As per my explanation above, I do not accept that purposes religions assign for our exitence are valid or of any use to us. That is because the very pourpose for our existence is decided by our own very existence as I have tried to explain. So we better make the best use of our time we have.
The idea of belief in highier authority perhaps arises from the sense of our own weakness and the reason seems to be that we do not feel comfortable with things that seem to be beyond our own control. In other words we feel comfortable only when we feel secure and we cannot feel secure unless we have things under our own control. This is why a husband does not feel comfortable if his wife goes out of his control or a parent does not feel comfortable when his kid gets out of his/her control and likewise the government does not feel comfortable when people get out of its control.
Since life is like that that there are things that we know for a fact that they are not under our control so we look to those amongst us who we think have control over them eg when brothers and sisters start a fight with each other, the weakest of them looks for parents to put things right for him. Likewise weak minded wives look to husbands for putting things right and weak people look to governments for putting things right and when we see such things happening to us that affect us in a bad way but we see that they are not in control of any of us then we assume there must be some one we can appeal to for putting those things right for us. Thus one thing leads us to another and over a period of times ideas become a kind of real things to us.
However even if we accept spirituality yet it has to give us something to help us survive and not to help us destroy ourselves. So even if we must have religions and gods etc, they must serve our purpose or they will not be of any use to us as I see things. The division and hatred between human beings in the name of god or religion is unacceptable no matter what. So that cannot be the purpose of our life in any case because that leads us to utter destruction.
_________________
Observing things gives us information, putting information together in a way that works gives us knowledge, and by reflecting on what we come to know makes us wise. So let us be wise so that we could be nice to each other.