Notes for the Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul - Rudy Rucker

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Notes for The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul, by Rudy Rucker Since the base sample for this table is from a news magazine, there are many mentions of the U. S., which is why we see “u” and “s” as frequent words. Web Hype The Web provides us with an unprecedented level of knowledge amplification; in effect we have access to a global mind. Memes One final thought. It could be fruitful to think of cultural artifacts as independent beings that travel about in the hive mind. Mind parasites, as it were. The meme theory of artifacts views them as agents competing with each other in an evolving environment. Memes are a type of life. Bifurcation Social movements, such as the stock market, are day-to-day unpredictable while being globally limited to some specific strange attractor. The most dramatic social upheavals occur when a fundamental change alters the system’s parameters, leading to a bifurcation and an entirely new computational strange attractor. On my McLuhanizing Never forget that Ph. D. stands for “piled high and deep.” Table of Emulations At this point, I’ve introduced all five of the computational levels that we’re going to think about. Now, in the next chapter (6) I’ll talk a lot about having computations of various kinds emulate each other. So at this point I’d like to look at some of the kinds of emulation that I have in mind. p. 92
Notes for The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul, by Rudy Rucker PC * PC Fluttering leaf Developing fetus Human mind The changing content of the web Fluttering Leaf * Developing fetus * Human mind * The changing content of the web * Table: Computations Emulating Each Other The cells describe how a computation named at the top of the column would emulate the computation named at the left of the row. Predicting a Baseball [Row deleted from the “Uses of Prediction” Table in section 6.3: The Need for Speed.] A high fly baseball. Mental emulation of the trajectory. You catch the ball. Actually, it seems that baseball players don’t catch fly balls by emulating the trajectory so much as by running around and using a particular kind of feedback loop. This loop, called a linear optical trajectory, depends upon being in motion, which is why talented fielders tend always to make their catches on the run. See http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20021012/mathtrek.asp. Dig at Theoretical Computer Scientists [Removed from the footnote on the hundreds of complexity classes discussed by theoretical computer scientists.] Not to ruffle any feathers, but my suspicion is that theoreticians distinguish so very many complexity classes because inventing a new definition is an easier way to generate a computer science dissertation or journal article than is p. 93
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Notes for the Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul - Rudy Rucker

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