From: pdugan (pdugan@vt.edu)
Date: Fri Dec 23 2005 - 14:28:27 MST
An extrapolation of the Kardashev scale suggests civilizations of types IV
through VII, with VI implying control over multiple universes and VII implying
mastery of ontotechnology to the effect of being able to create new universes.
Its possible that the hyperbolic increase in intelligence resulting from a
singularity allows a civilization to jump from Type I to Type VI without ever
leaving the stellar backyard.
>some major problems (e.g. mortality), would you be okay with
>transcending, leaving them behind to die?
>My objection to this scenario is that it neglects the possibility of
>altruistic intervention. If the civilization next to you is suffering
Now consider that upon reaching Type VII status, a civilization is capable
of intelligently designing universes, one would think a degree of moral
responsibility would accompany this. I suspect, however, that Type VII
ontotech wouldn't create single universes in an intentive, rule-based model,
in analogy to the way most commercial videogames are designed. Instead, entire
multiverses would run as evolutionary ontotech programs, akin to the model of
black hole baby universes promulgated by Andrei Linde; such a system would be
in analogy to paidic games such as "Sim City", where randomization algorithms
can produce many initial conditions which result in the emergence of many
"rule-sets" appropriate to the different contexts and player intentions. Put
simply, a Type VII civilization may run its ontotech off of a chaotic basis
capable of generating unlimited universes, instead of an intelligent design
model capable, by definition, of generating only a finite number of universes.
Such a model implies a distribution of probability from the simplest voids to
interesting, life-supporting universes like ours, which may in turn produce
singularities and resulting Type VII civilizations.
>If expansion costs you almost nothing, why wouldn't you lend a hand to
>anyone else?
The implication of an infinite distribution of probability is that there
will be civilizations which are doomed as well as civilizations which
transcend. In order for a universe to include an intervening agent that could
overstep normal causation, it would have to be intelligently designed, which
would contradict the evolutionary ontotech model. Its possible that there are
intelligently designed universes as well as evolved universes, but if there
weren't evolved universes where existential risk was implied, then creation
would have a cap of finitude on its diversity, and that would be a graver
tradegy than any catastrophe confined to a single world.
Patrick Dugan
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jul 17 2013 - 04:00:54 MDT