I came across this article, and it reminded me how amazing the animal world is, and in particular human beings. It only took 250 million generations since the first fossil evidence of animals to evolve a human, and each one is built from a single fertilised egg.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9249079/A_good_robot_is_hard_to_find_or_build?pageNumber=1
Research suggests that human brain has more switches than the entire internet. Each of the 125 trillion synapses that connect our 200 billion brain cells appears to have perhaps 1000 molecular scale switches. (ref 1)
Some areas of our brain take the input from our nerve cells and begin to process them. They pass through other processing areas that start to interpret the signals; this sequence of signals from an eye might show us that an object is moving for instance. Other areas deal with hearing or touch or smell. Most of these areas carry out their functions without imposing on our consciousness. At the top level, our brain presents a model of our environment to our conscious self. The conclusion of this would seem to be that we are living within a computer simulation: generated by our brains based on input from the senses around our bodies interacting with our environment. The question is, are we interacting with the computer simulation or are we the simulation itself?
Back in 2001 the Nick Bostrom speculated that scientific knowledge and computer power would at some time in the future increase sufficiently to build a simulation of the human brain in a computer (ref 2). That computer would also be able to build a sufficiently complete model of the universe that an individual simulated human brain would not be able to distinguish it from the real thing. The model would include not only one simulated person, but many, so that each ‘person’ had the true ‘experience’ of interacting with other ‘people’.
He reasoned that since the people who created this simulation would be likely to run a number of simulations (like our kids run lots of ‘Sims’ scenarios) “Then it could be the case that the vast majority of minds like ours do not belong to the original race but rather to people simulated by the advanced descendants of an original race.”
There are inherent assumptions that Bostom builds on: that our consciousness and ‘me-ness’ are simply emerging characteristics of the complex computer circuitry within our brain, and that science and technology will continue to advance until we understand and can model the brain operation. The reasoned conclusion is that if these assumptions are correct then you and I are simulated beings in a computer simulation.
If that is the case, then we might conclude that it is of little consequence to switch off a particular simulation, in the same way that we are quite happy to switch off our computer.
But what if an alternative view is correct, that ‘we’ are not the simulation itself? What if there is something about us that is more than an emergent property of a highly complex computer? What if there is a ‘me’ that transcends the ‘matter’ that makes up the computer in my head? What happens then if the computer is switched off? Do I cease to exist, or do I simply cease to interact with this particular computer?
The answer to that question lies beyond science and technology. We will have to look elsewhere for guidance.
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References:
1) http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/human-brain-has-more-switches-than-all-computers-on-earth/
2) Are you living in a computer simulation? Philosophical Quarterly (2003) Vol. 53, No 211, pp.243-255. (First Version: 2001)) Nick Bostrom
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For more on this topic and others see The Big Picture- an honest examination of God, Science and Purpose
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There are millions of people spending their working life pushing forward scientific knowledge. The breadth of knowledge discovered by the hands of so many scientists is beyond anyone’s comprehension. Pronouncements by the scientific community have become almost the word of God. Nobody has the evidence to question them. And yet…. sometimes they just don’t seem right. They make us uneasy. We fear that scientists have overstepped their knowledge, and often rightly so. We must not be afraid to voice our concerns, see for example https://philhemsley.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/mitochondrial-donation-some-concerns/
With so much knowledge out there, and so many people working on science, many in society have come to believe that science will eventually be able to answer every question. “Eventually we will know everything about how the universe works. Science will allow us to live forever. Technology will reverse global warming. We will finally leave earth and colonise the solar system and universe. Maybe we will even learn to travel through time itself, and finally we will be able to meet the maker of it all and ask why he made such a mess of things….”
Of course, many of these ideas come from science fiction, but literature influences our culture and outlook. All of the ideas above seem reasonable extrapolations of where we have got to, and are often reinforced by the fantasizing of high profile scientists. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1270531/Stephen-Hawking-backs-possibility-time-travel-millions-years-future.html
There is another group of people who have a different outlook. They believe that the literal explanation for everything that has happened, and prediction of everything that is going to happen in the future is written in a collection of books and manuscripts compiled from 2000-4000 years ago, called the Bible. The first of these books describes how the world was created and populated with all the plants and animals as completely formed organisms. The whole process took just six days. This literal interpretation of the book of Genesis will inevitably lead to a fear of science; “Will those millions of people prove my belief’s wrong? Have I built my life on a lie?”
How can we overcome our fear of science? How can we tame and control this beast, and stop it turning round and destroying us?
The only way to overcome our fears is to face them. We need the courage to try to understand what science is and what it isn’t, what it can tell us and what it can’t. We need to understand the assumptions behind all science. We must not get lost in the detail, but we need to set the whole in context. We need a guide.
Many of my posts on this blog are intended to help us think about scientific issues:
https://philhemsley.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/how-far-should-we-trust-scientific-prediction/
https://philhemsley.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/information-dna-and-evolution/
https://philhemsley.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/god-miracles-and-the-laws-of-physics/
and my book “The Big Picture” can equip the reader to begin to understand how to deal with science. Reviewers seem to think it works:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/766354330
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/767596412
There are other resources that help understand how we might deal with science, and I refer to many in the book. But I hope that my years of spare time researching of these big questions will be of benefit to others, if only as a starting point for further discovery.
As I mentioned above, if we are afraid of science, the best thing to do is to confront our fears. And it’s best to confront them with a friendly guide.
From the BBC website:
Lord Kelvin believed science must be treated with reverence, as he explained:
“I have long felt that there was a general impression that the scientific world believes science has discovered ways of explaining all the facts of nature without adopting any definite belief in a Creator. I have never doubted that impression was utterly groundless.
“The more thoroughly I conduct scientific research, the more I believe science excludes atheism. If you think strongly enough you will be forced by science to the belief in God, which is the foundation of all religion.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/24535331
If, like Kelvin, you are as willing to explore the facts and consider your own opinion, you might like my recently released book “The Big Picture – an honest examination of God, Science and Purpose”
http://www.electiopublishing.com/index.php/bookstore#!/~/product/category=4758362&id=28794920
If you have wondered if science, faith and reason are compatible then this is a book for you.
The book explores how everything (including science) is based on faith of some sort. It explains in understandable terms what science tells us (quantum physics, evolution, DNA, neuroscience etc), and what it can’t tell us, and presents some of the documentary and rational evidence for and basis of Christianity – useful if you want to base your outlook on information instead of propaganda.
The style is a combination of balanced data presentation and respectful discussion; you will not be brow-beaten into having to agree with the author!
Click on the book cover (right) to order your copy.
Thoughts from a Minimalist Christian 