THE NEW ENLIGHTENMENT OR THE PANCAKE PEOPLE/ NOUL ILUMINISM SAU OAMENII PLACINTA

But today, I see within us all (myself included) the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self-evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the "instantly available". A new self that needs to contain less and less of an inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance—as we all become "pancake people"—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.
Will this produce a new kind of enlightenment or "super-consciousness"? Sometimes I am seduced by those proclaiming so—and sometimes I shrink back in horror at a world that seems to have lost the thick and multi-textured density of deeply evolved personality.
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Operating systems make it easier for human beings to operate computers. They also make it easier for computers to operate human beings. (Resulting in Richard Foreman's "pancake effect.") These views are complementary, just as the replication of genes helps reproduce organisms, while the reproduction of organisms helps replicate genes. Same with search engines. Google allows people with questions to find answers. More importantly, it allows answers to find questions. From the point of view of the network, that's what counts. For obvious reasons, Google avoids the word "operating system." But if you are ever wondering what an operating system for the global computer might look like (or a true AI) a primitive but fully metazoan system like Google is the place to start.
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The Gods evokes a world now inhabited by what Foreman calls "pancake people." These are "people who are 'thin,' because instead of including all the history of Western knowledge inside our heads, and shaping a vertical castle out of that knowledge, we have it all at our fingertips with computers, and we don't have to keep it inside of ourselves. By following all these bits of information we become spread horizontally, like pancake people."
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As Richard Foreman so beautifully describes it, we've been pounded into instantly-available pancakes, becoming the unpredictable but statistically critical synapses in the whole Gödel-to-Google net. Does the resulting mind (as Richardson would have it) belong to us? Or does it belong to something else?
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Dar azi, vad in fiecare dintre noi (in mine inclusiv) substituirea acelei densitati interioare complexe cu o noua forma, sub presiunea bombardamentului informational si tehnologiei "informatiei la discretie". O noua forma de personalitate, un nou ego care necesita din ce in ce mai putin un repertoriu interior, mostenit cultural. In felul acesta devenim cu totii "oameni-placinta", largi si subtiri pe masura ce ne conectam la aceasta retea vasta de informatie accesata printr-o simpla apasare de buton.Va conduce asta la aparitia unei forme noi de iluminism, o superconstiinta? Cateodata ma simt sedus de cei care sustin aceasta idee, iar cateodata ma retrag in mine cu teama la ideea unei lumi care pare ca si-a pierdut cultul unei personatitati multi-fatetate si profunde.
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Sistemele de operare ii permit omului sa opereze cu o mai mare usurinta calculatorele. In acelasi timp sistemele de operare permit si computerelor sa opereze fiintele umane. Aceste puncte de vedere sunt complementare. In aceeasi maniera in care replicarea genelor ajuta la reproducerea organismelor, in timp ce reproducerea organismelor ajuta la replicarea genelor. Acelasi lucru se poate spune si despre motoarele de cautare. Google permite oamenilor care poseda intrebari sa gaseasca raspunsuri. Mai mult, acesta permite respunsurilor sa-si gaseasca intrebarile corespunzatoare. Din punctul de vedere al retelei, asta e tot ce conteaza. Din motive lesne de inteles, Google evita expresia "sistem de operare". Cu toate acestea, daca te-ai intrebat vreodata cum ar arata un sistem de operare pentru Computerul Global (sau cu alte cuvinte o veritabila Inteligenta Artificiala), atunci un sistem primitiv cum este Google ar putea constitui un punct de plecare.--->"Tot ceea ce ii permite omului sa opereze retelele de calculatoare, in acelasi timp ii permite retelei sa controleze fiinta umana" (George B. Dyson - "Darwin printre masini").
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"The Gods" evoca o lume de acum locuita de ceea ce Foreman numeste "oamenii-placinta". Acesti oameni sunt "subtiri" deoarece in loc sa-si imprime in creier intregul volum de cunostinte propriu Culturii occidentale, construind in felul acesta o structura verticala pe baza acestor cunostinte, ei au totul la dispozitie prin simpla atingere de buton a unui calculator. Ei nu sunt nevoiti sa memoreze toate aceste cunostinte. Prin setea de biti, acesti oameni se dezvolta pe orizontala, asemenea unei placinte, devenind astfel "oameni-placinta".
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Dupa cum spune Richard Foreman, am fost inţărcaţi cu "placinte" aflate la discretie, am devenit sinapsele imprevizibile dar indispensabile ale retelei Godel-Google. Oare Mintea rezultanta ne apartine noua sa nu? Sau poate apartine altcuiva?

WILLIAM CALVIN'S MENTAL DARWINISM/ DARWINISMUL MENTAL AL LUI WILLIAM CALVIN

1) A DARWINIAN PROCESS IN THE BRAIN FINDS THE BEST THOUGHT FROM THE MANY THAT ARE PRODUCED CONTINUOUSLY
2) THOUGHTS EVOLVE SUBCONSCIOUSLY
3) DREAMING OCCURS ALL THE TIME BUT WE CAN’T SEE THEM WHEN WE ARE AWAKE
4) THOUGHTS ARE MOVEMENTS THAT HAVEN’T HAPPENED YET
5) THOUGHT ARISES FROM THE COPYING AND COMPETITION OF CEREBRAL CODES
6) OUR ACTUAL THOUGHT IS SIMPLY THE DOMINANT PATTERN IN THE COPYING COMPETITION
7) CIRCUITS IN THE CEREBRAL CORTEX ACT AS COPYING MACHINES; VARIANTS COMPETE FOR CORTEX SPACE
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1) UN PROCES DE NATURA DARWINIANA CARE ARE LOC IN CREIER SELECTEAZA CEL MAI POTRIVIT GAND DIN MULTITUDINEA DE GANDURI CARE ESTE ELABORATA CONTINUU
2) GANDURILE EVOLUEAZA LA NIVEL SUBCONSTIENT
3) VISELE AU LOC TOT TIMPUL, DAR NOI NU LE VEDEM ATAT TIMP CAT SUNTEM TREJI
4) GANDURILE SUNT MISCARI CARE NU AU AVUT LOC INCA
5) GANDURILE SE NASC IN URMA COPIERII (REPLICARII) CODURILOR CEREBRALE, PRECUM SI IN URMA COMPETITIEI DINTRE ACESTEA
6) GANDUL NOSTRU CONSTIENT ESTE PUR SI SIMPLU TIPARUL DOMINANT REZULTAT IN URMA COMPETITIEI TUTUROR GANDURILOR
7) CIRCUITELE DE LA NIVELUL CORTEXULUI CEREBRAL SE COMPORTA ASEMENEA UNOR MECANISME DE COPIERE (REPLICARE); VARIANTELE CONCUREAZA PENTRU SPATIUL CORTICAL