Journal
The AWIP Experiment : Why & What’s Next?
Wow. Turns out very hard problems are... very hard. And also very exciting. Work in progress...
Now that the experiment has passed, there are several things that need to happnen, that we’re currently working through.
This includes creating a fully detailed description of the experiment itself in an abstract and integrating this into a larger paper (series of papers really) that give a comprehensive overview of the various experiment design methods, pieces of research, and mathematical foundations that set the stage for the broader Integrated Information Theory.
The preliminary abstract is done. It’s important to have this as a way to share early in the publishing cycle with peers and respected colleagues to get their input, feedback, approve citations, etc. That way, when the time comes to publish final drafts, things have been through some polishing. So much of this work is translation. The experiment was done very intentionally and also very intuitively. A delicate mix of order and chaos. So now the work is to reconstruct the core ideas and communicate them in ways more institutional scientists will understand and respect as rigorous. Rigour here means arguments grounded in sound reasoning, previous emperical evidence, reproducibility, quantitative inputs and outcomes, and mathematical foundations. So I’m collaborating with Haley Rosso, PhD Candidate in Mathematics and Sonali Gupta, founder of Wavelet Labs, to shape the final abstract and experiment description.
What does this mean and why are we doing all this?
In simple terms, to reclaim knowledge.
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin, scope, and limits of human knowledge, asking questions like -
"What is knowledge?" and "How do we know what we know?".
Simply put, it's the theory of knowledge, concerned with belief, justification, truth, and how we acquire understanding.
"A resource on the Age of Enlightenment, which spanned the late 17th through the 18th centuries and replaced "superstition" and religious despotism with reason and rationality, Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, Revised Edition is a tool for students and the general public. Conceived and written as a point of departure for anyone who wishes to encounter this remarkable age of Kant, Newton, Descartes, Mozart, and Voltaire, this work surveys a vast landscape of ideas, historical figures, and events." "Featuring articles on general topics, such as science, education, art and architecture, aesthetics, and music, personalities, countries, notable works, and concepts, this encyclopedia features more than 120 black-and-white photographs and provides cross-references throughout. Further readings follow all major articles. An introduction, chronology, bibliography, and index round out the features of this resource to the period that informed both the birth of the United States and the modern era."
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment
by Wilson, Ellen Judy
One of the central pillars of colonial conquest was the destruction of knowledge, also known as epistemicide. We see this same pattern reflected in fascist movements in recent history. Some of the first things to burn... are books. Destruction of knowledge, history, wisdoms about how the natural world works, is part of the root cause of the polycrisis. Rather than seeking validation from institutional frameworks, our aim was to thoroughly interrogate what it would really mean to fundamentally reclaim and reimagine our understanding of intelligence, knowledge and scientific inquiry. The reductionist worldview, as much as it has given in scientific, technological and medical marvels, it has also taken in sharply reducing the possibility space of human thought and innovation. This is due to its philosophical and epistimelogical entanglement with white supremacy, patriarchy, genocide, chattel enslavement, warfare, ecocide, and globalized capitalism. The hyperfocus on “objectivity” and quantification is directly rooted in the economic motivations to account for human capital at the founding of our current global economy. The data broker is a direct descendant of the slave actiouneer. This is reflected in the current personalized data economy which is at the heart of the ubiquitous technologies across all sectors today, most specifically the militarized surviellance apparatus. So-called “objectivity” in STEM is how you get kanban flowcharts for drone strikes, driverless cars more prone to hit Black people, sexual assault deepfakes, the spectre of “AI-enhanced” nuclear warfare and many more horrors beyond our comprehension. Our world reflects our worldview. It’s systemic inequeities supported by centuries of deeply embedded economic, social, material, spiritual and cognitive infrastructural bias.
The erasure of spiritual traditions, customs, cultural systems, languages, artforms and ways of knowing have deeply severed us from a more equitable present and more hopeful futures for all. So, expanding the space of possibilities and the trajectory of our technological future means reexamining our techological past and how the restraints from that past have shaped our present condition. The technologies we live with and inhabit today have been irriduceably shaped by the colonial worldview and how this “Enlightenment” era worldview defined what counts as intelligence & knowledge. Challenging and confronting the current paradigmn and trajectory of technological “progress” means, in a very real sense, challenging the very foundations of how we define knowledge itself.
“Numbers as Functions - The idea, that in order to solve the deepest problems of number theory, we may have to reimagine the very core of mathematics itself. In particular, we may have to rethink what we mean by the word ‘number’.”
- The Dream: Riemann Hypothesis and F1
This work is our approach to buidling a unique kind of bridge to integrate scientific inquiry and the arts. More significantly, it’s our approach to show that the arts, worldbuilding as a practice more specifically, not only serve as essential ways to communicate scientific concepts, but that worldbuilding can be a critically meaninful tool to investigate many of the most challenging questions in science. Physicists, mathematicians and anthropologists build models of the world in various medium to brining us closer to understaning the world we inhabit. Worldbuilders, using sometimes the same techniques, and often referencing the same research, do very much the same. It’s a collaborative space ripe with possibility for discovery, integrating our methods to bring our pictures of the world closer to reality.
In a sense, the medium really is the message.
Shifting, and in many ways reclaiming, what we understand as valuable knowledge can shift what we consider as paths to discovery, innovation and technological progress. By widening our lens to more diverse ways of knowing and describing the world, we broaden our technological vision and space of possibilities for who can contribute to technological progress & how and what technologies can and should be created.
Can we just take a moment to once again honor how iconic these monochromatic technicolor looks were from Lil’ Kim? Our Queen.
Human Primitives
I’ve always been interested in “ancient technology”, the kinds of hand-made,
fundamental tools we’ve developed through time and their relationship to one another.
How to: make fire
How to: woodworking
How to: cooking & recipes
How to: find water
How to: farming, gardening & plants
How to: electronics & engineering
How to: home construction & repair
Lately, I’ve been working with these kinds of hand tools again, hoping to in some way conjure my own vernacular style rooted in my ancestry, experience, and universal first principles.
In my research track The Medium is the Message, I take a non-exhaustive look at the various kinds of symbolic and embodied communication that underpin our most fundamental technology. From the first instances of the concept of zero and the binary symbolism at the heart of computation, to the evolving visual language of quantum mechanics, the ability to communicate abstract, often complex ideas, is central to human survival.
Cheers, to the realest Chris you never knew.Happy Earth Day friend.
What is Post-Humanism?
In a time of emerging AI, Biorobotics, Systemic Dehumanization, Animal Rights & Climate Collapse we need look no further than the stories of our ancestors to embrace the philosophy of the more than human world and how integrating its teachings might help us reclaim our humanity.
To understand dehumanization, it’s important to understand what we mean when we say human. Who gets to be human and how did our idea of the human, as separate from other animals (and increasingly other kinds of humans), come to be?
Posthumanism acknowledges that the concept of ‘the human’ is in fact intertwined with colonialism, sexism, and white supremacy . While an appeal to our shared humanity may be beautiful in principle, a brief look at history shows a different story. The idea of ‘the human’ has historically been used to oppress whoever (and whatever) was considered ‘nonhuman.’ The philosopher Rosi Braidotti makes the point that our understanding of ‘the human’ is based on the concept of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, 1490. She argues that slaves, native populations, and women were historically excluded from the category of what she calls “fully human.” Consequently, they were barred from enjoying equal rights with the white male. Humanism is therefore far from innocent: It comes with the baggage of Western supremacy, patriarchy, and oppression.
By embracing posthumanist philosophy, we might paradoxically be able to reclaim an inherent humanity. A humanity that is reoriented within its natural relations of nonhuman & technological ancestry.
Self-Synth & the Future of Identity Tech
Technoculture : Self-Synth
The latest look at our Identity As a Software System
Throughout history, humans have used the tools available to them to imagine new versions of themselves in attempts to tell stories, maintain tradition, feel closer to nature, and transcend their own limitations. Can a piece of technology help you envision and become a truer version of yourself? With technology, we’re able to extend the boundaries of our minds, push past the limitations of our bodies, and see reflections of our individuality in the natural world around us.
Imagine a new way to look at what it means to be human.
Remixing Worlds with XR Radio
A Second Look : Frame.io
XR RADIO
Advancing research into the potential benefits and risks of a fully mixed-reality world.“In an augmented reality…Any person will be able to manipulate reality and influence consciousness. Anyone will be able to place three-dimensional digital objects in the physical world which will be difficult or impossible to distinguish from the real thing.
There’s no doubt that augmented reality has the potential to improve our lives immeasurably. Still, its development is far outpacing the thought of how it should be used: who will have access to the technology? How should we design digital objects to fit into the physical world? Are companies allowed to use our data to create a personalized augmented environment for us? How do you prevent wrongdoers from manipulating us? How do you teach people to differentiate between the digital and the physical?
These questions are more than just philosophy fun-time.
Thinking about them is crucial to our lives.”
Source: Guineafowl Lab, Medium
Why I’m an anti-natalist (and why you should consider being one too).
Watch a while
You'll see he never smiles
Broken home
Father gone
Mama tired
So he's all alone
Kind of sad
Kind of mad
Ghetto child
Thinkin' he's been had
In the back of his mind, he's sayin'
Didn't have to be here
You didn't have to love for me
While I was just a nothing child
Why couldn't they just let me be
Let me be, let me be, let me be?
- Cutis Mayfield, Little Child, Runnin’ Wild
Run' wid
— Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence by David Benatar
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