Neural Networks Cluster Terminology & Notes for Week 1 : Clark NCB & Rheingold SM
Human (1533): a bipedal primate mammal (Homo sapiens) (onelook.com)
Computer (1646) - one that computes; specifically : a programmable usually electronic device that
can store, retrieve, and process data (onelook.com)
Artificial intelligence (1956): a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent
behavior in computers; the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior
(onelook.com)
Cyborg (cybernetic organism) -- “A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and
organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction.” Donna Haraway (1991); “an
organism that is a self-regulating integration of artificial and natural systems” (Wikipedia)
Brain advantages: 1) Enormous size; 2) Uses parallel processing & biological preprocessing; 3) Uses
memory instead of processing power; 4) Efficient when performing small # of useful operations; 5)
Good at : pattern recognition, motor control, perception, flexible inference, intuition & guessing.
Brain disadvantages: 1) Slow; 2) Imprecise, make erroneous generalizations; 3) Prejudiced; 4) Often
incapable of explaining their actions
Clark’s arguments: “For we shall be Cyborgs not in the merely superficial sense of combining flesh
and wires, but in the more profound sense of being human-technology symbionts: thinking &
reasoning systems whose minds & selves are spread across biological brain & nonbiological circuitry.”
a.
b.
c.
d.
Cognitive hybridization/mindware upgrades/man the toolmaker -> cyborg
Human mind can’t be seen as bound & restricted by biological skin-bag
Seeing our selves as cyborgs <> post-humanism beliefs
New waves of user-sensitive technology that adapt to us will help us merge with technology ->
harder to say “where world stops & the person begins”
e. Upgrades have pros & cons; every new technology brings new limits & demands.
f. Mind-Body Problem is Really Mind-Body Scaffolding Problem; “Baffling dance of brains,
bodies, & cultural & technological scaffolding.”
Post humanist arguments:
www.robertpepperell.com/Posthum/gener.htm
1.1. It is now clear that Humans are no longer the most important things in the Universe. This is
something the Humanists have yet to accept.
1.2. All technological progress of Human society is geared towards the redundancy of the Human
species as we currently know it.
1.3. In the Posthuman era many beliefs become redundant - not least the belief in Human Being.
1.4. Human Beings, like Gods, only exist in as much as we believe them to exist.
1.5. The Future never arrives.
1.6. All Humans are not born equal, but it is too dangerous not to pretend that they are.
1.7. In the Posthuman era machines will be Gods.
1.8. Intelligent Agents will be the religious authorities of the Information Age. We will ask them to
interpret the Chaos of the God machines for us.
smart mobs – people who can act in concert even if they don’t know each other. Carry devices with
communication & computing capabilities & connect with other devices in environment & with other
people’s phones.
Moore’s law -- Computer chips get cheaper as they grow more powerful
Metcalfe’s Law -- Useful powerful of a network multiplies as the number of nodes in the network
increases
Reed's law -- assertion of David P. Reed that the utility of large networks, particularly social networks,
can scale exponentially with the size of the network.
Convergence of portable, pervasive, location-sensitive, intercommunicating devices with social
practices that make the technologies useful to groups as well as individuals