Rough Draft

Introduction: In the distant future, a new video game will be created. In an effort to create the most immersive world possible no expense has been spared. The physics of the game are perfect, graphics like you wouldn't believe, and characters within this world have been created to be as real as possible. Their simulated little bodies come from generations of simulations. Where their species evolved, much like our own, and they have a rich cultural backstory because of this. They have religion, they have simulated brains, thoughts and feelings. When you purchase this game you can interact with it as a sort of extra dimensional being, similar to how God or angels are thought to interact with our world. What do you owe them in how you behave?  *photo is AI generated, seemed fitting* Discussion: Video games are showing a trend towards players wanting real impacts over the virtual world they are playing in. Like how your choices in Fallout 4 change the wasteland. Better yet...

  Photo by Google DeepMind: https://www.pexels.com/photo/an-artist-s-illustration-of-artificial-intelligence-ai-this-image-represents-how-machine-learning-is-inspired-by-neuroscience-and-the-human-brain-it-was-created-by-novoto-studio-as-par-17483869/ Introduction: With the world developing AI at a rapid pace, it raises real questions around consciousness and ethics. In this blog post I explore how I envision AI as developing. As well as exploring moral frameworks on how we interact with AIs as they advance in development. How would we treat a complex AI video game character in GTA? Is this differently from how we would interact with an AI loaded into a physical body? Discussion: What if AI was trained more like a human child? It would be given a physical body that would go through staged upgrades to match human development milestones. You would have an AI infant, toddler, child, teen, and finally an adult. This adult was carefully designed and programmed to be as humanlike as poss...

I recently finished the short story “What Men Live By” by Tolstoy and was left inspired greatly. If you have not yet read this short story, I suggest you read it yourself before continuing with this blog post. It's quite short and available for free online. It's something I'd suggest any religious thinker worth their salt to read. Photo by Sebastian Voortman: https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-white-concrete-statues-covered-by-dust-566641/ Introduction: Is there such a thing as a universal truth? And would their existence imply they came from a divine creator? This story tackles love as a universal truth that people live by. They describe those who act with love to have divinity within them. It's easy to say that they mean love is very valuable, but the use of the word divine is intentional. I believe, if stripped from religion, the divine is the pinnacle of good or the universal truth. Though I do not believe these truths to be tethered to the universe such as gravity, b...

Introduction: Labels are assigned to us in many ways. It could be something we assign ourselves, or they could come from other people. With these being so prevalent in our lives, I need to ask: are they worthwhile to have? I have often found that a label doesn't suit me exactly and has caused confusion of identity in my life. I suggest a practical framework to allow you to break free from restrictive labels and find a sense of your true self using descriptions. Photo by Jeffrey Czum: https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-gathered-watching-a-panda-mascot-2346289/ Discussion: "I am a gardener." A simple label that many feel they can associate with. But what does that mean? Does it mean you garden frequently, that you enjoy it immensely, or that you have done it for a long time? I propose breaking down this label a bit differently: "I like buying plants and putting them in the ground. I enjoy watering and tending to the garden. I tend to hate the insects that pester me as...

Introduction:            If you knew this life would repeat itself for eternity, how would you choose to live it? That is, this life as you live it is repeated forever. This is Nietzsche’s thought experiment called an “Eternal Recurrence”. How one interprets this as positive or negative can give insights into your life. What would you change if you knew this life would repeat as you live it forever? Photo by Steve Johnson: https://www.pexels.com/photo/abstract-colorful-infinity-symbol-on-soft-background-29022331/ Discussion: “What if a demon were to steal into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: ‘This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more…’ Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: ‘You are a god, and never have I heard anything more divine.’” This is an exce...

Introduction: What if the morals that guide us through life are wrong? They could be bathed in cognitive bias, unseen but misguiding our actions. Here I explore an empirical attempt to reconcile that concern and put it to the test with a few thought experiments. Discussion: Cognitive bias can be a tricky thing that can influence the minds of many. When looking at Nazi Germany, they took great care to raise their youth indoctrinated with their values. If the resulting population was allowed to debate and construct the moral values for the society to be built from, what would it look like? I can imagine we would see great tragedy passed as morally acceptable. Does the amount of debate between these indoctrinated youth matter when their core concepts of reality are warped? And how can any of us tell we do not have similar bias to an unknown evil? There must be some other metric we can use to develop these moral values as a society to avoid personal bias. I suggest we lean on Jeremy Bentha...