The Singularity

I recently subscribed to the Philosophy Bites podcast available on iTunes. This podcast consists of two writers, Nigel Warburton and David Edmonds, interviewing top thinkers and philosophers from around the world in 15 to 30 minute segments (i.e. just long enough for me to get through one on my walk to or from work).

This morning I listened to their interview with David Chalmers, a philosopher at the Australian National University (I guess not all Australian philosophers are named Bruce after all) regarding the Singularity. The Singularity is a term most often attributed to Ray Kurzweil and refers to a period of time in the future when machine intelligence reaches a point where it outstrips human intelligence. That that point, such machines will then be capable of creating software and other machines which outstrip their intelligence and so on in a rapidly increasing intelligence explosion. A sort of AI tail recursion.

The premise is, naturally, based on the assumption that it will ever be possible to build a machine intelligence that matches human intelligence including consciousness. There is wide debate on this topic with folks like John Searle arguing it impossible (at least in pure software) to philosophers like David Chalmers arguing it is inevitable. This has been a subject of interest for me which occupied a good portion of my undergrad days. I must admit that I feel drawn to Chalmer's argument wherein he imagines a single neuron in a conscious human's brain being replaced by a silicon chip. Keep replacing neurons and inspecting the subject ("Yes, I feel fine. This apple is tasty.") and you will hit one of three possible outcomes:

1. At some point after replacing a neuron the subject suddenly loses consciousness (the magic neuron)
2. The subject will gradually lose consciousness transitioning through differing levels of reduced consciousness until a point is reached where we can no longer say she is conscious (the fadeout)
3. All neurons will be replaced and the subject is still conscious despite having her brain completely replaced by silicon.

If we can assume an accurate replication of the function of each and every neuron I can't help thinking that the third outcome is entirely plausible. Searle had previously addressed this type of thought experiment and at the time argued against the possibility of consciousness (or what he called Strong AI). I believe his more current arguments are around consciousness arising from physical systems as opposed to software systems so he may now agree with (or at least be willing to explore) the possibility that our silicon-brained subject is conscious. Still, I can imagine those silicon chips being replaced one by one by individual software processes that mimic their function perfectly. I would wager that our subject would continue to remain just as conscious during the silicon-to-software transition as she did for the neuron-to-silicon transition.

If you're with me so far then you can easily see the doors to possibility that open up. The concept of "uploading" our consciousness into machines would become a reality (the ethical issues around the treatment of our software doppelgangers is beyond the scope of this blog post). How about making multiple duplicates of your consciousness to increase your productivity or at least balance the workload? How about an upgrade? Immortality would then come not from biological science but rather information science.

I really love this kind of subject in science fiction which is why writers like Greg Egan grace much of my shelving. Does anyone else find this subject fascinating? Any counter arguments to Chalmer's neuron replacement thought experiment?

Keeping it green

Ivey, apart from being my employer, is home to a major Canadian research center focused on Business Sustainability. As such, we take our responsibility to safeguard our environment quite seriously. We have implemented changes to our printers that have resulted in a 50% reduction in the paper used by students, our new building will be rated LEEDS Gold, we provide support for ride-sharing, plus other initiatives.

Given this spirit of sustainable business I have recently modified my email signature in order to discourage physical printing of messages that I send.



Notice the last line? It challenges the reader to think first before printing the email. I have absolutely no evidence to suggest that this makes a difference to anyone but I do know that such a message recently gave me pause. Since adding the line at the end of my signature can't hurt and might actually be beneficial I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon.

I really do encourage everyone to do the same. So how do you edit an email signature? Below is a quick synopsis on how to edit signatures using two common email readers: Microsoft Outlook and Mac Mail. Users of other mail readers can use Google for instructions on editing their signatures. Here are some links to relevant Google searches for Google GMail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook Express, Microsoft Entourage, Microsoft Hotmail (Microsoft must really want to get email right by trying it 15 different ways).

Microsoft Outlook

First a couple of caveats. One: I'm a Mac. Two: These instructions are for Office 2007.

Start Outlook and Select "Options" from the Tools menu. This will display a set of Options panels. Select the Mail Format tab.



Click the "Signatures" button and in the panel that pops up select New and enter a name.



Edit your signature like you would a mail message. Typically you include your name, your position, your company name, and contact information. Add an extra line at the bottom that reads "Do you really need to print this email? Keep it on the screen!". It's a nice touch to highlight that text and colour it green.



When you start a new message you should get your signature automatically.



For added bonus points add "Steal this signature!" either on an additional line or in parentheses and link to this blog post (http://scheyeniam.blogspot.com/2010/05/keeping-it-green.html).



Apple Mail

With Apple Mail in focus open the Preferences under Mail from the Menu or just press Command-,.



Choose "Signatures" from the Preferences panel.



Edit your signature like you would a normal mail message. Typically you include your name, your position, your company name, and contact information. Add an extra line at the bottom that reads "Do you really need to print this email? Keep it on the screen!". It's a nice touch to highlight that text and colour it green (press Command-Shift-C and select the Green of your choice). For added bonus points add "Steal this signature!" either on an additional line or in parentheses and link (by highlighting the text and pressing Command-k) to this blog post (http://scheyeniam.blogspot.com/2010/05/keeping-it-green.html).





Now when you edit a new message or reply to an existing message your signature will be included automatically. You may want to create multiple signatures for different recipients. Mail makes it easy to select between different signatures while you are composing your message.