Most people today, including scientists, psychologists, philosophers and pparticularly theologians feel extremely threatened by advances in artificial Intelligence and life. Although paying lip-service to the value of computers as tools to improve office and factory productivity, human life is not yet prepared to consider its creation as a competitor, capable of evolving its own alternate forms of intelligence, creativity and consciousness. Certainly the combination of AI, AR and AL is a potent cocktail, ripe for the next major phase change in life- the emergence of Meta-evolution.
The theme of this blog is that while the outcomes of evolution impact all physical systems, the process itself operates at a deeper information level. If the speed of a gazelle or the waterproof coat of an otter, or the hunting skills of a group of killer whales are useful in ensuring survival, the knowledge responsible for generating such outcomes will be retained, either via the genome or behavioural and cultural patterns. Otherwise it will eventually be discarded. In addition, the positive feedback from the gain in useful information reinforces and accelerates the process within a multi-dimensional framework Recent research has suggested that DNA as a medium for storing, modifying and replicating information is itself the product of evolution rather than chance. This is a critical example of the general process of evolution at work - molecular evolution catalysing biological evolution catalysing social evolution.
Quite simply, the evolutionary gains from one process feed into and catalyse others, which in turn provide an impetus to an ever-widening group of processes. For example, new insights into the physical properties of metals have led to recent breakthroughs in the field of superconductivity. This, in turn, has enabled the design of more efficient data transmission and more powerful computers. Faster computers combined with higher bandwidth data transmission has opened up the potential for telemedicine and tele-education via the Internet. Tele-medicine and tele-education also have the potential to change the social and political landscapes as third world countries seize on these low-cost technological advances to re-invigorate their economies and play catch-up with the West.
At the same time in another social dimension, a better understanding of the physics of metals has resulted in more advanced methods of dating prehistoric artefacts, leading to a better understanding of ancient civilisations and Aboriginal communities. This knowledge combined with advanced graphics is now being encapsulated in multi-media and interleaved with the education process for the benefit of future as well as present generations.
The science of evolution in its most abstract form therefore involves the transfer of information, or in the human context, ideas. The most useful information is then propagated or disseminated. In biological terminology, it is replicated. Novel ideas or innovations can be considered the equivalent of mutations, some of which may be beneficial, with the capacity to catalyse a process. Information packets or ideas then continue to be edited, mutated, cross-linked and integrated in various combinations, retaining the most useful combinations or progeny for further refinement and distribution and so on.
Evolution is therefore a multi-layered force, rippling through space and time, with each layer contributing to and accelerating the solution of a different set of local problems and at the same time creating solutions to global problems, each new solution adding value to all others. Eventually, the process must reach a critical mass, where new knowledge is generated and communicated continuously at lightning speed, virtually instantaneously.
This convergent teleology of evolution also helps explain the phenomena of emergent phase change, in which the process bootstraps itself to a higher level on reaching a critical threshold of complexity and a new system emerges with expanded functions capable of subsuming the previous form. This is now beginning to occur in our present society as knowledge grows exponentially whether measured by the growth in educational output, scientific journals or artistic excellence, at the same time accelerated by concurrent social phenomena such as the spread of democracy and greater recognition of human rights.
Such a process may be termed Meta-evolution. Phase changes are not a new phenomenon. Earlier incarnations manifested in the pre-Cambrian era, which saw explosive growth in biological diversity following attainment of a critical environmental threshold. Also, with the emergence of our early human ancestors over six million years ago, evidence of explosive growth in brain development was triggered by increasing environmental and social complexity.
The present phase change however is of immeasurably greater significance. For the first time, the acceleration of change will push life beyond its biological limits.
The extension to new AI-based forms will be irreversible. Evolution's inexorable push-pull will not allow for reversal. Life will begin to achieve a meta-view of its own destiny as a function of evolution and this will provide further hyper-impetus as it seeks to optimise its future.
Meta-evolution will create a never-ending recursive spiral of emergent system states, each cognisant of but more complex than its precursor. Each newly emergent system will seek to maximise its newfound potential, creating vast new knowledge bases and higher levels of intelligence, leveraging on each previous set of emergent properties and functions.
The theme of this blog is that while the outcomes of evolution impact all physical systems, the process itself operates at a deeper information level. If the speed of a gazelle or the waterproof coat of an otter, or the hunting skills of a group of killer whales are useful in ensuring survival, the knowledge responsible for generating such outcomes will be retained, either via the genome or behavioural and cultural patterns. Otherwise it will eventually be discarded. In addition, the positive feedback from the gain in useful information reinforces and accelerates the process within a multi-dimensional framework Recent research has suggested that DNA as a medium for storing, modifying and replicating information is itself the product of evolution rather than chance. This is a critical example of the general process of evolution at work - molecular evolution catalysing biological evolution catalysing social evolution.
Quite simply, the evolutionary gains from one process feed into and catalyse others, which in turn provide an impetus to an ever-widening group of processes. For example, new insights into the physical properties of metals have led to recent breakthroughs in the field of superconductivity. This, in turn, has enabled the design of more efficient data transmission and more powerful computers. Faster computers combined with higher bandwidth data transmission has opened up the potential for telemedicine and tele-education via the Internet. Tele-medicine and tele-education also have the potential to change the social and political landscapes as third world countries seize on these low-cost technological advances to re-invigorate their economies and play catch-up with the West.
At the same time in another social dimension, a better understanding of the physics of metals has resulted in more advanced methods of dating prehistoric artefacts, leading to a better understanding of ancient civilisations and Aboriginal communities. This knowledge combined with advanced graphics is now being encapsulated in multi-media and interleaved with the education process for the benefit of future as well as present generations.
The science of evolution in its most abstract form therefore involves the transfer of information, or in the human context, ideas. The most useful information is then propagated or disseminated. In biological terminology, it is replicated. Novel ideas or innovations can be considered the equivalent of mutations, some of which may be beneficial, with the capacity to catalyse a process. Information packets or ideas then continue to be edited, mutated, cross-linked and integrated in various combinations, retaining the most useful combinations or progeny for further refinement and distribution and so on.
Evolution is therefore a multi-layered force, rippling through space and time, with each layer contributing to and accelerating the solution of a different set of local problems and at the same time creating solutions to global problems, each new solution adding value to all others. Eventually, the process must reach a critical mass, where new knowledge is generated and communicated continuously at lightning speed, virtually instantaneously.
This convergent teleology of evolution also helps explain the phenomena of emergent phase change, in which the process bootstraps itself to a higher level on reaching a critical threshold of complexity and a new system emerges with expanded functions capable of subsuming the previous form. This is now beginning to occur in our present society as knowledge grows exponentially whether measured by the growth in educational output, scientific journals or artistic excellence, at the same time accelerated by concurrent social phenomena such as the spread of democracy and greater recognition of human rights.
Such a process may be termed Meta-evolution. Phase changes are not a new phenomenon. Earlier incarnations manifested in the pre-Cambrian era, which saw explosive growth in biological diversity following attainment of a critical environmental threshold. Also, with the emergence of our early human ancestors over six million years ago, evidence of explosive growth in brain development was triggered by increasing environmental and social complexity.
The present phase change however is of immeasurably greater significance. For the first time, the acceleration of change will push life beyond its biological limits.
The extension to new AI-based forms will be irreversible. Evolution's inexorable push-pull will not allow for reversal. Life will begin to achieve a meta-view of its own destiny as a function of evolution and this will provide further hyper-impetus as it seeks to optimise its future.
Meta-evolution will create a never-ending recursive spiral of emergent system states, each cognisant of but more complex than its precursor. Each newly emergent system will seek to maximise its newfound potential, creating vast new knowledge bases and higher levels of intelligence, leveraging on each previous set of emergent properties and functions.
