28 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
The Zeroeth Law of Robotics
"Just before Giskard's end, he conceived of a robotic law that superseded even the first. We called it the 'Zeroth Law' out of an inability to think of any other name that made sense. The Zeroth Law is: `A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.' This automatically means that the First Law must be modified to be: 'A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, except where that would conflict with th... 1 
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notesA robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
28 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Humans Have to Keep the World Going
Pelorat said, "You know what that reminds me of? -Pardon me, Bliss, for interrupting, but it so fits that I can't resist telling you right now before I forget. There's an old creation myth I once came across; a myth in which life was formed on a planet and consisted of only a limited assortment of species, just those useful to or pleasant for humanity. The first human beings then did something silly-never mind what, old fellow, because those old myths are usually symbolic and only confusing i... 1 notes
notesAfter they remove the natural components they dislike but that also kept the natural system in balance.
28 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Perspectives on Gaia
TREVIZE WAS surrounded by the tameness of Gaia. The temperature, as always, was comfortable, and the air moved pleasantly, refreshing but not chilling. Clouds drifted across the sky, interrupting the sunlight now and then, and, no doubt, if the water vapor level per meter of open land surface dropped sufficiently in this place or that, there would be enough rain to restore it.
The trees grew in regular spacings, like an orchard, and did so, no doubt, all over the world. The land and sea were...Folksonomies: gaia gaia hypothesis
Folksonomies: gaia gaia hypothesis
1 notes
notesSelections from "Foundation and Earth" on the fictional world Gaia, which is a more concrete example of Lovelock's almost metaphorical description of Earth as a living being.
11 APR 2011 by ideonexus
Life as "Improbable Distribution of Molecules"
At the end of the last century Boltzman made an elegant redefinition of entropy as a measure of the probability of a molecular distribution. It may seem at first obscure, but it leads directly to what we seek. It implies that the probably life or one of its products, and if we find such a distribution to be global in extent then perhaps we are seeing something of Gaia, the largest living creature on Earth.
But what, you may ask, is an improbable distribution of molecules? There are many poss... 1 notes
notesOur search for life means looking for distributions of molecules that are unlikely, be they atmospheric proportions or solid constructions.
11 APR 2011 by ideonexus
We Exaggerate the Magnitude of Ice Ages
The history of Earth's climate is one of the more compelling arguments in favour of Gaia's existence. We know from the record of the sedimentary rocks that for the pst three and a half aeons the climate has never been, even for a short period, wholly unfavorable for life. Because of the unbroken record of life, we also know that the oceans can never have either frozen or boiled. Indeed, subtle evidence from the ratio of the different forms of oxygen atoms laid down in the rocks over the cours... 1 notes
notesIce Ages did not encroach on over 70 percent of the Earth's surface, meaning they were not as significant of an event as we tend to imagine them.
