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| Fig. 1 What is the Big Bang? |
The graphic at Fig. 1 illustrates the evolution of the machine religion as discussed in this series.
The essence of it is that abiotic cognition (thinking) is older than carbon-based life form cognition (thinking), including human thinking.
This is a logical conclusion if we accept for real, or for argument's sake, the Big Bang Hypothesis depicted in Fig. 1, and and then proceed with:
"A new analysis of white dwarf stars supports their role as a key source of carbon in galaxies. Every carbon atom in the universe was created by stars, but astrophysicists still debate which types of stars are the
primary source of the carbon in our galaxy. Some studies favor low-mass stars that blew off their envelopes in stellar winds and became white
dwarfs, while others favor massive stars that eventually exploded as supernovae."
(New insights into the origin of carbon, emphasis added; cf. here). "Every" is a very conclusive word isn't it?
This gives us a starting place for the timeline of carbon, which is the offspring of other atoms that came before it, and eventually became the first stars.
But "which stars?" is the next issue:
"But astrophysicists still debate which types of stars are the primary source of the carbon in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Some studies favor low-mass stars that blew off their envelopes in stellar winds and became white dwarfs, while others favor massive stars that eventually exploded as supernovae."
(ibid, emphasis added). Obviously this can have an impact on the issue of when carbon first formed.
It doesn't matter whether low-mass (smaller) or massive (larger) stars did it, in the context of "the machines did it", because both star types are machines:
"The motor for making stars (and galaxies) came early and was very subtle."
(NASA WMAP, emphasis added). Concerning a 'motor', a dictionary tells us this:
"motor: a machine, especially one powered by electricity or internal combustion, that supplies motive power for a vehicle or for some other device with moving parts."
(Oxford Lexico, emphasis added). The essence of this series, then, is that machines evolved during the billions of years prior to carbon based life forms.
This series (The Machine Religion, 2, 3) involves the obvious analyses required in order to grasp the dynamics of cosmology, at least when one of the analyses takes place within the context of the "Big Bang" hypothesis.
That is, we have to focus on the nature of cosmological 'machines' from within the realm of 'abiology' before we focus on the nature of the environment of carbon based 'biology'.
The realization that Big Bang Cosmology is a story of abiotic evolution that preceded biotic evolution by billions of years is fundamental.
The carbon atom came into existence as a molecular machine part within the environment of the higher level machine dynamics of the early stars when those stars made carbon (Putting A Face On Machine Mutation, 2, 3, 4; The New Paradigm: The Physical Universe Is Mostly Machine; Weekend Rebel Science Excursion - 27).
II. Issue Difficulty
It is difficult to discuss the subject matter of this series without combining it with, among others, The Uncertain Gene, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; On the Origin of the Genes of Viruses, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; Did Abiotic Intelligence Precede Biotic Intelligence?, What Kind of Intelligence Is A Lethal Mutation?, If Cosmology Is "Off," How Can Biology Be "On?", 2.
Further, it may be of little help to add another ingredient into the discussion, a book titled The Age of AI.
I say that because the definition of 'artificial' is:
"1) made by human skill; produced by humans (opposed to natural): artificial flowers.
2) imitation; simulated; sham: artificial vanilla flavoring.
3) lacking naturalness or spontaneity; forced; contrived; feigned: an artificial smile.
4) full of affectation; affected; stilted: artificial manners; artificial speech.
5) made without regard to the particular needs of a situation, person, etc.; imposed arbitrarily; unnatural: artificial rules for dormitory residents.
6) Biology. based on arbitrary, superficial characteristics rather than natural, organic relationships: an artificial system of classification.
7) Jewelry. manufactured to resemble a natural gem, in chemical composition or appearance.Compare assembled, imitation (def. 11), synthetic (def. 6)."
(Dictionary). That definition covers a lot of ground, but maybe the definition of 'artificial intelligence' will give our analysis a boost:
"1a) the capacity of a computer, robot, or other programmed mechanical device [machine] to perform operations and tasks analogous to learning and decision making in humans, as speech recognition or question answering.
1b) a computer, robot, or other programmed mechanical device [machine] having this human like capacity: teaching human values to artificial intelligences.
2) the branch of computer science involved with the design of computers [machines] or other programmed mechanical devices [machines] having the capacity to imitate human intelligence and thought. Abbreviations: AI, A.I."
(Dictionary). How a machine can have "the capacity to imitate human intelligence and thought" is the analysis in question.
It seems as if the assumption is that there is only one aspect of human intelligence to be considered, but what about psychosis, madness, genius, dementia, aging (from a child to centenarian), etc.
The machine's engineering, that we know of via Big Bang analysis, is incremental (The Dynamo at Work, Flagellar Motors).
III. Closing Comments
Basically, I am saying that "A.I." or "machine intelligence" composed of software represents only a slice of human cognition which does not go through a human-like aging process.
At least in our time ... but past machine intelligence which made motors which made stars which made carbon (of which we are composed), would have had to have gone through incrementalism (Thinking Like A Phage).
Additionally, I am saying that if the Big Bang Hypothesis is valid, then the first intelligence was machine intelligence, because it came prior to carbon based life form intelligence (assuming the two are not the same intelligence).
So arguably, we are allowed to wonder whether or not human intelligence is the real artificial intelligence (What Kind of Intelligence Is A Lethal Mutation?).
Stay tuned.
The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.
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