Minimalist, Open, Extensible CosmismModern Cosmism Conference, NYC, Oct. 10 2015

Giulio Prisco

Modern Cosmism defined

Modern Cosmism defined by R.U. Sirius and Ben Goertzel - 1

Cosmism is a sort of philosophically laid-back version of transhumanism. In a culture that tends to be argumentative and filled with people who like to insist that their views are correct, cosmism doesn’t care if you’re viewing the universe as information or quantum information or hypercomputationor God stuff or whatever.

Nor does it ask anyone to commit to AGI or mind uploading or brain-computer interfaces or fusion-powered toasters as the best way forward. Rather, it seeks to infuse the human universe with an attitude of joy, growth, choice, and open-mindedness.

Modern Cosmism defined by R.U. Sirius and Ben Goertzel - 2

Cosmism believes that science in its current form, just like religion and philosophy in their current forms, may turn out to be overly limited for the task of understanding life, mind, society, and reality - but it teaches that, if so, by actively engaging with the world and studying and engineering things, and by reflecting on ourselves carefully and intelligently, we will likely be able to discover the next stage in the evolution of collective thinking.

Two key references on Russian Cosmism

The Russian Cosmist vision of empowering science

A futurist philosophy centered on science and galactic colonization.

“The human race, all the sons of man, through the regulation of the celestial worlds, will themselves become heavenly forces governing the worlds of the Universe.” – Nikolai Fedorov

Enormous impact on Russian science and space in the 20th century.

Global cosmism can be a religion or a practical philosophy for the 21st century and beyond.

Russian Cosmism: a powerful mystique for scientific development and space exploration

The enigmatic Nikolai Fedorov

A comprehensive Cosmist philosophy of the Common Task.

Future generations will master Nature, colonize the stars, and resurrect the dead.

Practical engineering over theoretical science.

A man with a twenty-first century mind and a medieval heart.

Active, forceful, masculine Christianity.

Fedorov’s ideas on technological resurrection

“The gathering of the scattered dust and its reconstitution into bodies, using radiation or outlines left by the waves caused by the vibration of molecules."

“The learning of and the directing of all the molecules and atoms of the external world, so as to gather the dispersed, to reunite the dissociated, i.e. to reconstitute the bodies of the fathers such as they had been before their end.“

Fedorov used the language and science of his times (of course).

Contemporary ideas on technological resurrection

Cornerstones of contemporary ideas on technological resurrection

Mind uploading - someday it will be possible to transfer entire personalities from their original biological brain to more durable and powerful engineered substrates.

Time-scanning - someday it will be possible to acquire very detailed information from the past, perhaps by exploiting weird quantum phenomena (“Quantum Archaeology”). Once time-scanning/QA is available, we will be able to resurrect people from the past by “copying them to the future” via mind uploading.

Synthetic realities - someday it will be possible to build artificial realities inhabited by sentient life. Perhaps future humans will live in synthetic realities. Perhaps we will wake up in a synthetic reality after having been copied to the future. Or… perhaps we are already there.

Mind uploading: copy/paste from brain to (future) computer

The Turing-Church conjecture states that any computation… can be done by any other computing machine…

One computer can do anything another can do. In other words, all computation is equivalent.

(Kevin Kelly)

Tipler’s Omega Point Cosmology

Tipler’s Omega Point Cosmology – Best answer to criticism

“So will the Universe end in a big crunch, or in an infinite expansion of dead stars, or in some other manner? In my view, the primary issue is not the mass of the Universe, or the possible existence of antigravity, or of Einstein’s so-called cosmological constant. Rather, the fate of the Universe is a decision yet to be made, one which we will intelligently consider when the time is right.”

Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines

Micro-wormholes embedded in the fabric of space-time

Perhaps every space-time pixel is connected to every other space-time pixel via extra-dimensional connections (e.g. micro wormholes).

Quantum weirdness could permit time-scanning, aka‘Quantum Archaeology’

What the Bleep Do We Know!?Nobody understands quantum mechanics. - Richard Feynman

Quantum entanglement in space and time

Entanglement implies an “instant” correlation between measurements, even if they are out of each other’s light cone.

Are separate things but different aspects of the same thing?(David Bohm)

Time loops – The future could drive the past

‘Akashic Records’ in hidden dimensions of reality

If Akashic records exist, I am sure future science will find them and learn how to read them.

Do we live in Flatland, and is there a way out?

The simulation theory is indistinguishable from religion

Perhaps our reality is computed (created) by superior beings in a higher reality.

The creators are omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.

They cannot violate their physical laws, but they can violate our physical laws (miracles).

They can, if they want, copy and resurrect us.

Fedorov’s ideas on technological resurrection seem naïve to us today, but I guess our ideas will seem equally naïve to future scientists

A Big, Infinite, Fractal onion universe – more and more things in heaven and earth, without end

Shakespeare’s words of wisdom “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” could remain true forever. Our scientific understanding of the universe could grow without bonds, but always find new fractal depths of unexplained phenomena, to be explored by future scientists.

Classical physicsGeneral relativity

Quantum mechanicsQuantum fieldsStandard model

Quantum gravity ?Fractal space-time ??“Akashic physics” ???

?

Zooming in and finding new science, forever

New religions to provide mental and emotional wellness

Deism vs Theism

Deism: an impersonal Cosmic God.

Theism: A personal God who cares and loves.

We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations.– Albert Einstein

Many of the leaders of the American Revolution were Deists.

I believe Deism died because the physics upon which it was based was simply too impersonal. – Frank Tipler

Deism is too impersonal and cold to offer hope and happiness.

What, where, and when is God?

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It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him - Arthur C. Clarke

It’s highly plausible that in the universe there are God-like creatures(Richard Dawkins)

I will just call them Gods.

Future humans will spread to the stars and join the community of Gods

We will become like Gods.

God was once like Man, Man will become like God

Future Gods able to influence space-time events anywhere, anytime, including here and now.

God

Man

I Am

Th

at I

Am

I shall B

e That I Sh

all Be

Hope in resurrection gives hope, happiness, and strength

Hoping in an afterlife has survival value for both individuals and societies, because it gives people hope, happiness, and the strength to continue to live instead of withdrawing (or worse) in despair.

Belief creates the actual fact(William James)

While Cosmism lacks the superstitions of conventional religions, it shares with many of them an emphasis on the power of positive thinking and feeling. When you truly want something, and believe it’s possible, quite often you find ways of making it happen. -Ben Goertzel, A Cosmist Manifesto

I am persuaded that my Cosmist convictions are scientifically plausible, and they give me happiness and drive, so I choose to hold them as beliefs.

The Problem of Evil – Why does God permit evil and suffering?

Total omnipotence is logically and physically inconsistent.

God can only do his best to reduce evil and suffering.

Perhaps God tries to gradually elevate love and compassion to the status of fundamental forces, key drivers for the evolution of the universe.

Perhaps this is a good analogy?

I am much smarter and more powerful than my sweet Sacha.

I love Sacha and do my best to protect her.

I can protect her from many things, but I can’t protect her from many other things.

However, I try and do what I can.

A few words on atheism

Most atheists are great persons, but militant “New Atheism” is toxic.

I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being. – Albert Einstein

I think at times it is Dawkins himself who ends up adopting a fundamentalist attitude, on the other extreme. – Peter Higgs

Smug atheists should read more science fiction. - Charlie Jane Anders, science fiction writer and editor

Traditional religions mix cosmology with geography and zoning laws

A Cosmic Religion based on cosmology,without geography and zoning laws

We will go to the stars and find Gods, build Gods, become Gods, and resurrect the dead from the past with advanced

science, space-time engineering and “time magic.”

God is emerging from the community of advanced forms of life and civilizations in the universe, and able to influence space-time events anywhere, anytime, including here and

now.

God elevates love and compassion to the status of fundamental forces, key drivers for the evolution of the

universe.

The Turing Church – A minimalist, open, extensible Cosmic Religion

Minimalist, because it is a simple, compact cosmology, deliberately open to interpretation, and without geography or zoning laws.

Open, because it is a minimalist foundation to build upon, and also because it’s open to everyone and doesn’t impose zoning laws.

Extensible, because it can be used as a framework or library and extended vertically.

The Turing Church Project

Work In Progress. You are invited.

http://turingchurch.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/turingchurch/

giulio@turingchurch.net – giulio@gmail.com

Forthcoming book: Tales of the Turing Church,by Giulio Prisco, end 2016

Thanks for listening!