Magnus Berg (qmgb@bull.se)
Fri, 11 Sep 1998 13:30:01 +0100
Hi Horse and Squad
You wrote:
>
> Ones and zero's are not organic building blocks they are
> intellectual patterns of value.
>From our perspective yes, but not for the computer virus. Our inorganic
level could be seen as an intellectual level from "below". Martin Stritz
mentioned a theory which states that the primary stuff of the universe
is information and that is right along the same lines.
> The existence of the floppy disk, the
> electronic/computer environment and cyberspace itself are due to
> intellectual patterns. They are created by intellect. The instruction
> sets of all CPU's are, for an L5 PoV, laws of nature. As static as
> gravity and the speed of light.
Exactly! And since the computer viruses are like biological viruses,
they need inorganic building blocks and laws of nature to dominate.
The ones and zeros are the building blocks and the instruction set
of the CPU is the laws of nature.
> >From an IntPoV perspective L5 may well be outside of SOM - but
> is this a bad thing. Tell me why?
"Outside of SOM", what do you mean?
Let me put it this way. Computer viruses are less dynamic than we
are, right? They are much more bound by their laws of nature, just
as the early life forms in the prehistoric soup on earth.
> I think that much of the problem here is that we are trying to
> overlay Level 4 values on Level 5 patterns. The aliveness of a virus,
> the Internet or other L5 PoV's, is a limited way of expressing the
> quality inherent in PoV's of a new level. The virus/electricity
> relationship bears an amount of resemblance to the Organic
> Virus/Carbon relationship.
An amount of ~100% if you ask me.
> Electricity may be part of the basis of L5
> but is in no way comparable to the L5 PoV's. L5 PoV's have
> emerged from IntPoV's in the same way that BioPoV's emerged
> from InorgPoV's.
Ok, let's exchange electricity for mechanical devices. Build a steam
powered copmuter that uses mechanical force to represent ones and zeros.
It will be some zillion times slower and bigger but it would work.
Would the viruses in that machine be another level? Will the level
ladder suddenly become a level tree?
> At the moment it is hard to be absolutely certain that L5 is a truly
> new level. Only time will tell. But I think that we should take great
> care not to damage its chances by supporting the static
> dominance of IntPoV's in the face of new possibilities. This is the
> basis of the MoQ - change for the better is moral - but better from
> which point of view?
A crucial point indeed. Viruses wants to dominate their universe. It
doesn't matter if they're biological or computer viruses. I would
also argue that since we are aware of computer viruses, we are
of a higher, or the same level. But I guess you don't agree with
that deduction.
Magnus
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