TED Community » phillip swallow

More About Me

I'm passionate about

free and open institutions and discussion. Positive change in Africa, by Africa.

An idea worth spreading

A serious look at the fundamental tenants of science

Comments

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  A comment on Conversation: Developing a "focused social media" to utilize brain power of millions for common goals from inception of an idea to its implementatation.

  Apr 1 2013: This is a really cool idea,
  The first thing that comes into my mind is to encourage collaboration for a goal in the same way that massive multiplayer games do. I know people who spend more hours a week playing games than going to school! If all these geek hours can be utilized for real life specific goals, the possibilities are limitless.
  
  And there would be a legitimate excuse to spend our time in dark basements eating Doritos.

• A reply on Conversation: Could the stars be conscious?

  Mar 31 2013: It is clear that photosynthetic organisms have radically altered earth itself, and contributed to forming the atmosphere essential for life on earth.
  Entire climate systems are formed by the two massive jungles in the southern hemisphere (Amazon and Congo), when humans arrived on the Australian continent 40,000 years ago, it was covered by plant life, fertilized by the native large animals on the continent, within a few thousand years, humans had wiped out these animal species thus destroying the ability for the plants to reproduce. Australia then became what it is now a huge desert continent. The loss of so much oxygen producing vegetation must have significantly impacted the global respiration system, and thereby the climate. 30,000 years later, a blink of the eye in earths history, the Ice age began could there be a connection between the two events?

• A reply on Conversation: Could the stars be conscious?

  Mar 31 2013: The idea that consciousness permeates all matter in the universe is a very religious idea, but seems to be supported by findings of quantum physics. Another religious conception is that it is the same consciousness that incorporates all, this could help explain quantum entanglement at least in theory.
  
  these beliefs created by the human imagination to explain the unknown, are labeled as mystical, but that doesn't mean that they do not contain substance. The religious ideas resonate deeply with us, could this demonstrate a great truth about the universe and our connection to it?
  
  I encountered this thought, when i was trying to imagine ideas, and see if i could represent thoughts and ideas in my imagination. We know that the brain has hundred of billions of synapses, and the number of potential connections is almost limitless, I thought what else could be as complicated as the human brain; what about the universe itself? If each thought is a star, then galaxies are symphonies of thoughts required for understanding and deep knowledge, these galaxies of thought constantly growing as new stars are created in a perpetual cycle.

• A reply on Conversation: The debate about Rupert Sheldrake's talk

  Mar 31 2013: Is this... technique learnable, or do you need certain traits? I would imagine that people who do not put up boundaries in their minds would be more inclined to something like this.
  And did these- messages feel like thoughts, or less clearly formed intuitions?
  so many questions

• A comment on Conversation: Could the stars be conscious?

  Mar 31 2013: So how do we, as conscious observers understand our own connection to this community of life? Can we communicate with such life let alone understand it?
  or would it be like an ant contemplating the actions and words of a human?

• A reply on Conversation: Are we on the brink of creating a human-like digital mind?

  Mar 31 2013: what an interesting possibility
  so using the existing informational processes or DNA, we can enhance computing?
  it makes sense that since evolution has had millions of years to create complexity, why start from scratch. Could this suggest a future brain-computer symbiosis?

• A reply on Conversation: Are we on the brink of creating a human-like digital mind?

  Mar 31 2013: Much appreciated!
  I am very much interested in learning more about the workings of the mind, for a start are emotions the product of unconscious thought, are they effecting our physical brain, or only our "ego" the charioteer of plato?
  
  I invite your ideas

• A reply on Conversation: Are we on the brink of creating a human-like digital mind?

  Mar 31 2013: About 40,000 years ago the first human being landed in Australia, navigating thousands of miles of uncharted oceans. Man achieved this with absolutely no knowledge of what they would find. This kind of intrinsic curiosity and ability to see beyond fear created one of the greatest civilizations in existence 200 years ago. This is the same fear that the catholic church cultivated so well for so long. To this fear we owe at least a thousand years of progress, the fear which sent Galileo to his death.
  
  Also, whole peoples cannot be singled out for blame, that is the kind of thinking exploited by the likes of Hitler, Jim Crow and countless leaders in human history. Creating a cycle of misunderstanding and hate. Easy answers and guilty culprits please those who are in emotional pain, but will never stand up to clear rational thinking. Change and progress will always be scary for it will force adaptation upon everyone.
  
  I fully agree with establishing a framework on how to proceed with this Star Trek reality we will soon live in. For a start, its time to establish when life is conscious, what consciousness is and what is life.
  
  Will we remain in this comforting darkness,
  in the womb of our own ignorance,
  or will we take a chance and breath the air of the living?

• A reply on Conversation: Are we on the brink of creating a human-like digital mind?

  Mar 31 2013: I agree completely.
  I believe that consciousness works on a quantum level, what else could explain the mystery of the human mind, but the mystery of quantum interaction?
  It has been demonstrated in a series of brilliant experiments that electrons are waves and particles. They only become "real" after being observed or measured.
  I propose that this is the same way thoughts are created, symphonies composed and love shared. I am dyslexic and cannot truly know what other people experience, but at least for me thoughts seem to come from nowhere, especially when i am not consciously focused on something. It is as if i am driving a Hogwarts carriage, with absolutely no clue as to what invisible power propels me.
  Thus i believe that these projects will not be able to achieve their expressed aim.
  However any project that gathers the best and brightest in one area has the potential to invigorate our species and expand our scientific corpus. And if the publicity surrounding these epic projects gets people questioning the universe behind our eyes, it can only be for the best.

• A reply on Conversation: Is capitalism sustainable?

  Mar 17 2013: Spare me your banalities.
  Neither bore me nor try to seduce me with your benevolent insolence.