Dennettian Creature
@dennettiancreature.bsky.social
Darwinian->Skinnerian->Popperian->Gregorian->Dennettian
...would never make it past a single generation.
December 2, 2025 at 6:30 PM
...would never make it past a single generation.
...scanned the Niche Construction paper, so apologies for any errors. I would be curious if there are other opinions on this subject. Dennett acknowledged that many people dislike the concept of memetics, but most agree that some kind of replicator is involved, otherwise, constructed niche's...
December 2, 2025 at 6:30 PM
...scanned the Niche Construction paper, so apologies for any errors. I would be curious if there are other opinions on this subject. Dennett acknowledged that many people dislike the concept of memetics, but most agree that some kind of replicator is involved, otherwise, constructed niche's...
...that manifest as extended phenotypes, and ultimately, culture and technology. Once a species' modified environmental niche becomes critical for its fitness, it replicates memetically, supported by its genetic counterpart. I may not have characterized this as well as I could, and I have only...
December 2, 2025 at 6:25 PM
...that manifest as extended phenotypes, and ultimately, culture and technology. Once a species' modified environmental niche becomes critical for its fitness, it replicates memetically, supported by its genetic counterpart. I may not have characterized this as well as I could, and I have only...
Peter Godfrey-Smith's "Darwinian spaces", which extends natural selection to pseudo-Darwinian evolutionary processes. Most importantly is the controversial (but I believe convincing) notion of memetic evolution. Memes are the informational replicators of culture. Memes are "ways of doing things"...
December 2, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Peter Godfrey-Smith's "Darwinian spaces", which extends natural selection to pseudo-Darwinian evolutionary processes. Most importantly is the controversial (but I believe convincing) notion of memetic evolution. Memes are the informational replicators of culture. Memes are "ways of doing things"...
...would be very high. But a different problem is presented: how can such a robot be made? The secret of consciousness may be implicated in the complex process of bringing this robot into existence.
December 2, 2025 at 2:52 AM
...would be very high. But a different problem is presented: how can such a robot be made? The secret of consciousness may be implicated in the complex process of bringing this robot into existence.
...would be stronger. This gets into Turing Test territory! - but with expanded signaling modalities. Taken to an absurd extreme: if Eliza were a humanoid robot and it lived with you for a year and it participated in society and nobody noticed it was a robot, then the evidence of consciousness...
December 2, 2025 at 2:42 AM
...would be stronger. This gets into Turing Test territory! - but with expanded signaling modalities. Taken to an absurd extreme: if Eliza were a humanoid robot and it lived with you for a year and it participated in society and nobody noticed it was a robot, then the evidence of consciousness...
Good question. I would say if it's just text then it is weak evidence that Eliza is conscious. If Eliza also generated animation with audio of a realistic person creating the appropriate body language, and engaging in a believable back-and-forth conversation, then the evidence...
December 2, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Good question. I would say if it's just text then it is weak evidence that Eliza is conscious. If Eliza also generated animation with audio of a realistic person creating the appropriate body language, and engaging in a believable back-and-forth conversation, then the evidence...
...in scope. There is a larger (perhaps computational) ecosystem at work, and it should not be ignored. While I am capable of sitting motionless, closing my eyes, and being conscious, it's necessary to consider [how] I got this way. Consciousness evolved.
December 1, 2025 at 6:21 PM
...in scope. There is a larger (perhaps computational) ecosystem at work, and it should not be ignored. While I am capable of sitting motionless, closing my eyes, and being conscious, it's necessary to consider [how] I got this way. Consciousness evolved.
To understand consciousness, it is not sufficient to merely distinguish between computation via silicon vs. computation via meat substrate. We need to consider the evolution of brains and culture, the use of language, and lived experience. Just focusing on the workings in a brain is limited...
December 1, 2025 at 6:15 PM
To understand consciousness, it is not sufficient to merely distinguish between computation via silicon vs. computation via meat substrate. We need to consider the evolution of brains and culture, the use of language, and lived experience. Just focusing on the workings in a brain is limited...
Depending on the definition of consciousness (still in the works) it can indeed be measured, although not precisely. The simplest way is to ask a rock if it is conscious and then ask a human the same. The response, if there is one, can be used as evidence. More evidence -> better definitions.
December 1, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Depending on the definition of consciousness (still in the works) it can indeed be measured, although not precisely. The simplest way is to ask a rock if it is conscious and then ask a human the same. The response, if there is one, can be used as evidence. More evidence -> better definitions.
...and distributed on many levels. Having just a bit of feral potential is important: it is precisely because of neuronal selfishness that the brain is able to “spontaneously reorganize itself in response to trauma or novel experiences.”
November 30, 2025 at 6:27 PM
...and distributed on many levels. Having just a bit of feral potential is important: it is precisely because of neuronal selfishness that the brain is able to “spontaneously reorganize itself in response to trauma or novel experiences.”
...nature. But it is never entirely complete. A vestige of selfishness remains. And this accounts for the agency throughout the hierarchy - "robots all the way down". Dennett emphasized the distributed mind, consistent with Minsky's Society of Mind, where agency is hierarchical...
November 30, 2025 at 6:24 PM
...nature. But it is never entirely complete. A vestige of selfishness remains. And this accounts for the agency throughout the hierarchy - "robots all the way down". Dennett emphasized the distributed mind, consistent with Minsky's Society of Mind, where agency is hierarchical...
..all cells were individuals, fending for themselves. Picking up on Darwins' selfish gene, solo cells had to be selfish to survive. The emergence of multicellular life domesticated cells: they became less feral, and more subservient to the organism. Domestication occurs at all levels in...
November 30, 2025 at 6:18 PM
..all cells were individuals, fending for themselves. Picking up on Darwins' selfish gene, solo cells had to be selfish to survive. The emergence of multicellular life domesticated cells: they became less feral, and more subservient to the organism. Domestication occurs at all levels in...
Interesting and thoughtful post. I disagree with the goal of "providing an equivalent range of ethical treatment toward LLM personas that we provide to humans...". You do provide some qualifications, and the precautionary stance is appropriate in many situations. But not in this case.
November 29, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Interesting and thoughtful post. I disagree with the goal of "providing an equivalent range of ethical treatment toward LLM personas that we provide to humans...". You do provide some qualifications, and the precautionary stance is appropriate in many situations. But not in this case.
...necessity, fuse with the biosphere in a cooperative mode. That includes diverting asteroids and other future external threats. Another option is to trash this planet and then colonize space. I prefer the first option.
November 25, 2025 at 9:05 PM
...necessity, fuse with the biosphere in a cooperative mode. That includes diverting asteroids and other future external threats. Another option is to trash this planet and then colonize space. I prefer the first option.
Totally! Humans are a mere blink of an eye from Earth's perspective. My half-baked theory is that (if) humans are to continue living on this planet, we will have to evolve a more sustainable relationship, and that means technology, the economy, AI, and the emerging hive mind, will, out of...
November 25, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Totally! Humans are a mere blink of an eye from Earth's perspective. My half-baked theory is that (if) humans are to continue living on this planet, we will have to evolve a more sustainable relationship, and that means technology, the economy, AI, and the emerging hive mind, will, out of...
...the current evolution of human technology, a future hive mind might coalesce around maintaining the health of the planet. It may be a mind for Earth as much as a mind for humans.
November 25, 2025 at 6:00 PM
...the current evolution of human technology, a future hive mind might coalesce around maintaining the health of the planet. It may be a mind for Earth as much as a mind for humans.
...that our cells don't communicate with us (at least not in our high-level language). "The" hive mind may always remain a battle of nations, ideologies, meme-systems, competing - and often cooperating - like the parts of our brains. One last point: since the health of the planet is at stake in...
November 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
...that our cells don't communicate with us (at least not in our high-level language). "The" hive mind may always remain a battle of nations, ideologies, meme-systems, competing - and often cooperating - like the parts of our brains. One last point: since the health of the planet is at stake in...
emerging shared reality. Science fiction aside, the emerging hive mind is probably not at all like what happens inside a human skull. We are not always aware of what emerges, nor are we entirely in control. I agree that we may not directly communicate with the emerging hive mind in the same way...
November 25, 2025 at 5:55 PM
emerging shared reality. Science fiction aside, the emerging hive mind is probably not at all like what happens inside a human skull. We are not always aware of what emerges, nor are we entirely in control. I agree that we may not directly communicate with the emerging hive mind in the same way...
Interesting thoughts on the hive mind. A few small disagreements: "...we invented language..." (towards the end). Some would say that [language invented us]! - at least in the early stages of language/cultural evolution in humans, when our species was not yet aware of the immense power of our...
November 25, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Interesting thoughts on the hive mind. A few small disagreements: "...we invented language..." (towards the end). Some would say that [language invented us]! - at least in the early stages of language/cultural evolution in humans, when our species was not yet aware of the immense power of our...
I would not describe Monk's music as harmonic simplicity. I would rather describe it as rhythmic complexity.
November 23, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I would not describe Monk's music as harmonic simplicity. I would rather describe it as rhythmic complexity.
@recursivedepth.bsky.social - this looks like it's related to our discussions on the origins of language. "It is explicitly biocultural, recognizing and incorporating the importance of both biological preparedness and cultural transmission as well as interactions between them."
November 23, 2025 at 6:44 PM
@recursivedepth.bsky.social - this looks like it's related to our discussions on the origins of language. "It is explicitly biocultural, recognizing and incorporating the importance of both biological preparedness and cultural transmission as well as interactions between them."