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The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul
by Rattle at 6:17 pm EDT, May 30, 2005 |
What Gnarly Computation Taught Me About Ultimate Reality, the Meaning Of Life, and How To Be Happy A nonfiction book by Rudy Rucker --- We're presently in the midst of a third intellectual revolution. The first came with Newton: the planets obey physical laws. The second came with Darwin: biology obeys genetic laws. In today's third revolution, we're coming to realize that even minds and societies emerge from interacting laws that can be regarded as computations. Everything is a computation. Does this, then, mean that the world is dull? Far from it. The naturally occurring computations that surround us are richly complex. A tree's growth, the changes in the weather, the flow of daily news, a person's ever-changing moods --- all of these computations share the crucial property of being gnarly. Although lawlike and deterministic, gnarly computations are --- and this is a key point --- inherently unpredictable. The world's mystery is preserved. Mixing together anecdotes, graphics, and fables, Rucker teases out the implications of his new worldview, which he calls "universal automatism." His analysis reveals startling aspects of the everyday world, touching upon such topics as chaos, the internet, fame, free will, and the pursuit of happiness. More than a popular science book, The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul is a philosophical entertainment that teaches us how to enjoy our daily lives to the fullest possible extent. |
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RE: The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul
by oaknet at 6:53 pm EDT, May 30, 2005 |
Rattle wrote:
] What Gnarly Computation Taught Me About Ultimate Reality,
] the Meaning Of Life, and How To Be Happy Gnarly computation?
Ultimate reality?
Meaning of life?
How to be happy? Is this a joke? If not, the answer is: Get a life, help others, live in the day. ... and stop reading bollock brained books like this... what a sad reflection of western society that we choose either the medievalism of religion or total mindnumbing pseudo-science bollocks like this. |
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RE: The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul
by Rattle at 7:15 pm EDT, May 30, 2005 |
oaknet wrote:
] Is this a joke?
]
] If not, the answer is: Get a life, help others, live in the
] day.
]
] ... and stop reading bollock brained books like this... what a
] sad reflection of western society that we choose either the
] medievalism of religion or total mindnumbing pseudo-science
] bollocks like this. This has the flavor of a Vile post.. I quote from the book's forward, which you clearly didn't read: ] Im not sure if I subscribe to universal automatism or not. One
] reason Im writing this book is to see where universal
] automatism leads. I guess taking in a philosophical treatise might be a little over your head. After all, this is a work from a world renowned computer scientist and science fiction writer, not Noam Chomsky. Not all authors share their thoughts in a manor where they are trying to tell you what to think. |
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RE: The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul
by oaknet at 6:38 pm EDT, Jun 16, 2005 |
Rattle wrote:
I guess taking in a philosophical treatise might be a little over your head. After all, this is a work from a world renowned computer scientist and science fiction writer, not Noam Chomsky. Not all authors share their thoughts in a manor where they are trying to tell you what to think.
Manner, not manor. Philosophical treatise? From a science fiction writer? That makes it a philosophical treatise? I imagined such things would come from philosphers. If by philosophical treatise you mean whatever pops into a person's head, then fine. But even so, my point is that there's enough nonsense in the world already, we don't need to add to the intellectual pollution. |
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