Posts

How to Maximize the Chance of Human Survival?

I firmly believe in working towards a true Star Trek-like ‘post-scarcity utopia’—a society where food and housing production are maximally automated and distributed. Such advancements could potentially enable high levels of wealth and leisure for everyone. Imagine a world where scarcity is a concept of the past, and every individual has access to the resources they need to thrive. However, achieving such a utopia is no small feat. The system required to maintain this level of automation and abundance would be enormously complex, technologically speaking. It would depend heavily on a network of technologies (some complex and themselves dependent on complex networks, like semiconductor manufacturing), as well as on stable economic and political frameworks, all of which must function seamlessly together. The more intricate the system, the more potential points of failure it has, making it vulnerable to disruptions. Now, let's ponder some catastrophic scenarios. Imagine the Yellowston...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rules of Reason

 Rules of Reason  ->
Post a Comment
Read more

English - Dutch Humor Dictionary created by ChatGPT

Image
Humorous English - Dutch Mini-Dictionary created by/using ChatGPT Possibly the first online dictionary created by/with AI's GPT Created with TLex's new integrated OpenAI functionality. New 3 Oct 2023: New article on this work by Prof Dr Gilles-Maurice de Schryver: " Generative AI and Lexicography: The Current State of the Art "   Images by David Joffe
Post a Comment
Read more

DaveGnukem Debian and Ubuntu packages etc.

Image
Packages for Debian, Ubuntu etc. for Dave Gnukem ... :) https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/davegnukem https://packages.ubuntu.com/lunar/davegnukem Thanks to Matteo Bini for major contributions to get this happening, as well as the many others who have contributed More/future: repology: davegnukem   (and alternative package spelling:  repology: dave-gnukem )
Post a Comment
Read more

Stopping Aging

Some thoughts on aging. Aging seems to me 'unnecessary'. Imagine all the benefits if we could cure aging, and have lifespans of over 1000 years. If we had 1000-year+ lifespans, journeys to other stars that may take e.g. 'hundreds' of years would suddenly seem reachable 'within a human lifespan'. I see curing aging as ultimately "just" a (big, complex) technological problem to solve. A big complex puzzle with lots of pieces, but a solvable puzzle. A very big, complex and difficult problem to solve (to be sure) - but I feel it must be solvable. Our bodies are ultimately just machines. Really complex machines. And solvable possibly potentially within most of our lifespans, if we try. Attitudes like "Oh, we are just meant to age" seem like confounders to progress toward solving these problems - we could solve it faster if more people dedicated attention to it instead of simply assuming it's unsolvable, or adopting irrational quasi-religious v...
Post a Comment
Read more

On disorders and fear of being alone

Consider what we call "disorders" - many of them, of course, are genuinely maladaptive. But some appear only contextually maladaptive and perhaps even beneficial in other contextual circumstances. Consider, for example, the fear of being alone (autophobia) - frequently classified as a disorder. Of course, there are symptoms (or traits) that may be maladaptive, particularly in modern society - i.e. that negatively affect the person who has it, and that the person may need relief from these. But consider that for much of the last 5 or 10 million years of our evolutionary history, our way of life was probably largely relatively approximately something between modern hunter-gatherer societies, and the way the chimps in the documentary Rise of the Warrior Apes lived (and still live) - frequently in dangerous conflict with neighboring tribes. Likewise our last common ancestor with the chimps. In these societies in which our ancestors lived, finding yourself lost and alone from your...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aliyah tips and mistakes to avoid

Just writing up a few minor tips that might be useful to others making Aliyah, based on my personal experiences: It's a good idea to have a permanent Israeli number as many services (e.g. banks and banking Apps) seem to need an Israeli number (I recommend trying to have a dual sim phone, so you have Israeli sim card plus sim card for your home country in same phone, so it's easier to travel) On leaving Israel in 2019 I thought I could just activate roaming on the prepaid sim card I had been using. Several days before I left, I went to the Partner store to ask them to activate roaming, and was told that the prepaid sim cards 'don't support roaming' and that I'd need to sign up for a plan. Although I didn't mind doing that (and immediately signed up for a plan), I had so little time left before my  flight that I didn't have time to go collect my sim card, and in 2020 when the Covid situation and travel lockdowns arrived, I got stuck for an extended period ...
Post a Comment
Read more