Ragged Clown

It's just a shadow you're seeing that he's chasing…


Artificial Life

July
2008

[This one got stuck in the ‘drafts’ bucket because I enjoyed his book so much that I want to write a worthy review. Sorry, Steve Grand. I have moved on.]

If I became suddely independently wealthy, I would be doing what this guy is doing:

One of the things I often find myself talking to the public about, for example, is the increasingly inescapable evidence that we are machines; that a human mind in all its glory is a mechanical consequence of the lawful interactions between trillions of very simple moving parts, and not some kind of vitalistic magical essence attached by a silver thread to a body. For most people this is very hard news to take, and they rebel against it. “What about culture?”, they say. “What about free will?” “How dare you suggest I’m some kind of jumped-up pocket calculator!” But as an engineer I have a huge respect for machinery and see things differently. Recognizing that we are machines doesn’t demean us at all; it just shows us what astounding and beautiful things machines are capable of. I find it awe-inspiring.

Read the interview.

Read the book.

Both outstanding.

Anyone play his game?