There is a compelling alternative to spirituality that deserves attention.
The huge problem with spirituality and religion is that there exists no good evidence for the existence of gods or any supernatural reality. It is a major problem. That alone should give anyone pause. Viewing spirituality as mostly informational, computational, and even software for people is incredibly satisfying and effective.
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What if it was better than spirituality? Is it? Could it be?
I believe it is. It works and it fits with our best understanding of reality.
We know information exists. We know software exists. We know computers exist. We know memory exists. Now, we have artificial intelligence that is powered by all of those things. And now there is the arrival of significant artificial intelligence, like GPT3, that is intelligence powered by computation. The next step forward is acceptable and compelling. It requires an open mind and just a little time to think about the idea.
The idea is this: The processing of information in ourselves is a much better understanding of what humanity has called spirituality. And dare I say, it is a superior understanding of ourselves.
Here is an example of just how impressive artificial intelligence is. It can now be used to read x-rays and MRIs and help in the diagnosis of skin cancer.
Reading the genome of a single person for the first time https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230210-the-man-whose-genome-you-can-read-end-to-end
https://youtube.com/shorts/ulSzy6peETA?feature=share
Sending our connectom to another planet
Not the physical self.
The difficulty in grouping information within the physical realm, particularly in the context of understanding consciousness and the informational self, arises from several complex and interrelated factors. One of the key challenges is the emergent property of information processing, which is not easily reducible to simple physical laws or components.
1. **Emergence and Complexity**: Information processing in the brain is a prime example of an emergent phenomenon, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This means that while neuronal activities and brain structures are well-understood at a micro level, the way they combine to produce consciousness and complex thought processes cannot be fully explained by their individual properties alone. This emergent nature of information processing contributes to the intuitive difficulty of not viewing consciousness reductionistically.
2. **Non-Linearity and Feedback Loops**: The brain’s information processing involves highly non-linear interactions and feedback loops. This complexity adds layers of unpredictability and non-linearity, making it challenging to directly correlate specific physical processes with specific mental phenomena.
3. **Subjective Experience (Qualia)**: The subjective nature of experience, often referred to as ‘qualia’, remains a deeply challenging concept to reconcile with physicalist explanations. How information processing in the brain leads to subjective experiences is not fully understood, which fuels the intuitive leap to non-reductionist explanations.
4. **The Binding Problem**: This refers to the challenge of explaining how disparate neural activities are unified into a single, coherent perception or experience. Despite understanding the roles of various brain regions in processing different types of information, how these are integrated into a holistic experience is still a mystery.
5. **Physical vs. Informational Properties**: Physical properties like mass, charge, and velocity are fundamentally different from informational properties like meaning, context, and representation. While physical properties are generally well-defined and measurable, informational properties are context-dependent and often subjective.
6. **Limits of Current Science**: Current scientific methodologies and technologies may not yet be fully equipped to unravel the complexities of information processing, especially in relation to consciousness. This gap in understanding can lead to the perception that there’s something ‘more’ than just physical processes at play.
In summary, the difficulty in conceptualizing information within the physical realm stems from the emergent, complex, and often subjective nature of information processing in the brain. These factors challenge reductionist views and open the door to different interpretations, including those that might erroneously attribute these phenomena to non-physical or spiritual realms. The field of cognitive science and neuroscience continues to explore these challenges, aiming to bridge the gaps in our understanding of how information processing correlates with consciousness and the self.