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http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/07/stephen-hawking-the-planet-has-entered-a-new-phase-of-evolution.html
 Although It has taken homo sapiens
several million years to evolve from the apes, the useful information
in our DNA, has probably changed by only a few million bits. So the
rate of biological evolution in humans, Stephen Hawking points out in
his Life in the Universe lecture, is about a bit a year.
"By
contrast," Hawking says, "there are about 50,000 new books published in
the English language each year, containing of the order of a hundred
billion bits of information. Of course, the great majority of this
information is garbage, and no use to any form of life. But, even so,
the rate at which useful information can be added is millions, if not
billions, higher than with DNA."
This means Hawking says that we have entered a new phase of
evolution. "At first, evolution proceeded by natural selection, from
random mutations. This Darwinian phase, lasted about three and a half
billion years, and produced us, beings who developed language, to
exchange information." But what distinguishes us from our cave man ancestors is the knowledge
that we have accumulated over the last ten thousand years, and
particularly, Hawking points out, over the last three hundred. "I think it is legitimate to
take a broader view, and include externally transmitted information, as
well as DNA, in the evolution of the human race," Hawking said.
In the last ten thousand years the human species has been in what
Hawking calls, "an external transmission phase," where the internal
record of information, handed down to succeeding generations in DNA,
has not changed significantly. "But the external record, in books, and
other long lasting forms of storage," Hawking says, "has grown
enormously. Some people would use the term, evolution, only for the
internally transmitted genetic material, and would object to it being
applied to information handed down externally. But I think that is too
narrow a view. We are more than just our genes." The time scale for evolution, in the external transmission period, has collapsed to about 50 years, or less. 
Meanwhile, Hawking observes, our human brains "with which we process
this information have evolved only on the Darwinian time scale, of
hundreds of thousands of years. This is beginning to cause problems. In
the 18th century, there was said to be a man who had read every book
written. But nowadays, if you read one book a day, it would take you
about 15,000 years to read through the books in a national Library. By
which time, many more books would have been written."
But we are
now entering a new phase, of what Hawking calls "self designed
evolution," in which we will be able to change and improve our DNA. "At
first," he continues "these changes will be confined to the repair of
genetic defects, like cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy. These
are controlled by single genes, and so are fairly easy to identify, and
correct. Other qualities, such as intelligence, are probably controlled
by a large number of genes. It will be much more difficult to find
them, and work out the relations between them. Nevertheless, I am sure
that during the next century, people will discover how to modify both
intelligence, and instincts like aggression." If the human race
manages to redesign itself, to reduce or eliminate the risk of
self-destruction, we will probably reach out to the stars and colonize
other planets. But this will be done, Hawking believes, with
intelligent machines based on mechanical and electronic components,
rather than macromolecules, which could eventually replace DNA based
life, just as DNA may have replaced an earlier form of life. Casey Kazan
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I have a lecture series given by him in Cambridge if you'd like it.
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 AbnormalQ: | |
self-destruction, we will probably reach out to the stars and colonize other planets. But this will be done, Hawking believes, with intelligent machines based on mechanical and electronic components, rather than macromolecules, which could eventually replace DNA based life, just as DNA may have replaced an earlier form of life.
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But seriously, thats fucking nuts.
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i've always thought the next step in evolution would be through our minds, i guess i need to take a few steps to reach his level first though. big hawking fan
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| vjpconst1: | |
| AbnormalQ: | |
self-destruction, we will probably reach out to the stars and colonize other planets. But this will be done, Hawking believes, with intelligent machines based on mechanical and electronic components, rather than macromolecules, which could eventually replace DNA based life, just as DNA may have replaced an earlier form of life.
This has actually been a known concept for quite some time. (Not the terminator, of course, but having machine based life). The logic was something as follows: Suppose we were visited by aliens, it isn't likely that they'd be biologic as it'd be probably, if not certain, that they simply wouldn't live long enough to make the trip from galaxy to galaxy and whatnot. They'd have to evolve to where instead of DNA (or some variation of the like) to where they could keep themselves alive via machines or mechanics. I heard about something like this years ago. (Maybe 8-10) Possibly from a conceptual idea by Stephen Hawking, but I think it was from a biologist or possibly a physicist. Very cool concept but scary to imagine.
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bfactor
(United States)
16,442
Posts.
Joined
09-17-2005.
07-03-2009 11:37 PM
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In reply to
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I mean, I don't really see what is so new or mindblowing about this concept.
We've known for quite a few years now that we are making advances in the field of DNA modification, and that it is only a matter of time before we are able to change/improve the human being via making alterations to the human DNA. And that's basically all the article is talking about. That we realize that we have a ton of information and technology to work with, but that our brains aren't really any significantly more powerful, in terms of raw computing power, than they were 10,000 years ago. So thus we should try to use our DNA modifying technology, when it arises, to artificially create people with better, more powerful brains than the ones we are currently being limited by.
But I'm pretty sure a lot of people who follow science have been in agreement about this concept for more than a decade.
And as for the synthetic/robotic life stuff, that I think we all know is not a very new concept at all.
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NOBODY LIKES A SMART ASS.
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| bfactor: | |
I mean, I don't really see what is so new or mindblowing about this concept.
We've known for quite a few years now that we are making advances in the field of DNA modification, and that it is only a matter of time before we are able to change/improve the human being via making alterations to the human DNA. And that's basically all the article is talking about. That we realize that we have a ton of information and technology to work with, but that our brains aren't really any significantly more powerful, in terms of raw computing power, than they were 10,000 years ago. So thus we should try to use our DNA modifying technology, when it arises, to artificially create people with better, more powerful brains than the ones we are currently being limited by.
But I'm pretty sure a lot of people who follow science have been in agreement about this concept for more than a decade.
And as for the synthetic/robotic life stuff, that I think we all know is not a very new concept at all.
exactly i thought that whole article was pretty much common knowledge of what we have in store for us in the future...
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| Dr.GHouse: | |
I have a lecture series given by him in Cambridge if you'd like it.
You've got my email still yeah?
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| AbnormalQ: | |
| Dr.GHouse: | |
I have a lecture series given by him in Cambridge if you'd like it.
You've got my email still yeah?
E-Mail will only let me send files no bigger then 10 MB. It'd have to be done via direct file transfer. The only way I know how to do that is on AIM/Trillian. I can PM you my AIM handle and I can send it to you when I have decent signal. Sound okay?
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| bfactor: | |
I mean, I don't really see what is so new or mindblowing about this concept.
This guy is the Lucasian Chair at Cambridge, prolly the most prestigious academic appointment in the world. Fucking Newton preceded him.
The mindblowingness is necessarily from the concept, but how behind the concept has been built a rigorous logical and mathematical framework. You know that when SH comes at it succinctly like he does here, there is some meat behind. Not like you or I smoking a blunt and being all like, "I understand the mysteries of the universe. It's like, um, the Matrix and stuff."
Take the example of Descartes famous cogito. I think therefore I am is one of the most famous phrases is philsophy. What people don't realize is, well, Ausustine made nearly the same argument in his masterwork City of God 1000 years earlier. What was novel about Rene's approach was in his taking the argument and making it axiomatic to an entire rigorous metaphysical, logical, epistemological system.
Same here, these is a strength and rigor behind these words that really make deep diving into these concepts truly remarkable.
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bfactor
(United States)
16,442
Posts.
Joined
09-17-2005.
07-04-2009 12:37 AM
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In reply to
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At the heart of it, I think all that is really going on here is, Stephen Hawking looked at something that zillions of people have been talking about for the past decade or two, and was like "Yeah, that looks about right to me." So now that a super smart guy looked into it carefully, and concluded in agreement, it's cool, cuz that means it's probably even more likely than ever before that that is really what's going to happen, if even HE agrees with it. That said though, I still don't consider this to be anything shocking or new. S.H. has come up with some new and shocking ideas before, but this isn't one of them.
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| Dr.GHouse: | |
| AbnormalQ: | |
| Dr.GHouse: | |
I have a lecture series given by him in Cambridge if you'd like it.
You've got my email still yeah?
E-Mail will only let me send files no bigger then 10 MB. It'd have to be done via direct file transfer. The only way I know how to do that is on AIM/Trillian. I can PM you my AIM handle and I can send it to you when I have decent signal. Sound okay?
yeah that works...I'll have to dust off my AIM, prolly haven't used that program in years...
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| bfactor: | |
At the heart of it, I think all that is really going on here is, Stephen Hawking looked at something that zillions of people have been talking about for the past decade or two, and was like "Yeah, that looks about right to me." So now that a super smart guy looked into it carefully, and concluded in agreement, it's cool, cuz that means it's probably even more likely than ever before that that is really what's going to happen, if even HE agrees with it. That said though, I still don't consider this to be anything shocking or new. S.H. has come up with some new and shocking ideas before, but this isn't one of them.
"There is nothing new under the sun." It wasn't posted because it was the announcement of the second coming of E=MC^2. After all, arguments along this vane started almost three hundred years ago with Berkeley's "Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous." So, surely this isn't "new," but it is interesting. It was posted because it had a lot of good quotes about the development of evolutionary thought by one of the people at the forefront and apex of human ideas within the world today.
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