Earthseed 61-65

61. What others say Beware:All too often,We sayWhat we hear others say.We thinkWhat we’re told that we think.We seeWhat we’re permitted to see.Worse!We see what we’re told that we see.Repetition and pride are the keys to this.To hear and to seeEven an obvious lieAgainAnd again and againMay be to say it,Almost by reflexThen to defend itBecause we’ve said itAnd at last to embrace itBecause we’ve defended itAnd because we cannot admitThat we’ve embraced and defendedAn obvious lie. �...

 Earthseed 36-40

36. We give our dead We give our deadTo the orchardsAnd the groves.We give our deadTo life. ∞ = Δ 37. Darkness gives shape DarknessGives shape to the lightAs lightShapes the darkness.DeathGives shape to lifeAs lifeShapes death.The universeAnd GodShare this wholeness,EachDefining the other.GodGives shape to the universeAs the universeShapes God. ∞ = Δ 38. Chaos ChaosIs God’s most dangerous face—Amorphous, roiling, hungry.Shape Chaos—Shape God.Act. Alter the speedOr the direction o...

 Earthseed 11-20

11. The Paradox Why is the universe?To shape God. Why is God?To shape the universe. ∞ = Δ 12. A Tree A treeCannot growIn its parentsʼ shadows. ∞ = Δ 13. The Destiny of Earthseed Destiny of EarthseedIs to take root among the stars. ∞ = Δ 14. Consequences To get along with God,Consider the consequences of your behavior. ∞ = Δ 15. Power Struggles All strugglesAre essentiallypower struggles.Who will rule,Who will lead,Who will define,refine,confine,design,Who will dominate.All strug...

 Shape God

God is Power—Infinite,Irresistible,Inexorable,Indifferent.And yet, God is Pliable—Trickster,Teacher,Chaos,Clay.God exists to be shaped.God is Change.   Any Change may bear seeds of benefit.Seek them out.Any Change may bear seeds of harm.Beware.God is infinitely malleable.God is Change.   God is ChangeAnd hidden within ChangeIs surprise, delight,Confusion, pain,Discovery, loss,Opportunity, and growth.As always,God existsTo shapeAnd to be shaped.     A victim of God may,Through learning...

 Artificial Intelligence VS Intelligence Augmentation

IA, or Intelligence Augmentation, is all about empowering humans with tools that make them more capable and more intelligent, while traditional AI has been about removing humans fully from the loop. The traditional torch bearer for IA is Douglas Engelbart, who laid the seeds for much of the Personal Computer revolution with his famous Mother of All Demos in 1968, where he demoed the computer mouse, hypertext, windowing, videoconferencing, and more for the first time. Douglas Engelbart was foc...

 Humphery Davy: Poem About a Weeping Monument

My eye is wet with tears For I see the white stones That are covered with names The stones of my forefathers’ graves. No grass grows upon them For deep in the earth In darkness and silence the organs of life To their primitive atoms return. Through ages the air Has been moist with their blood The ages the seeds of the thistle has fed On what was once motion and form... Thoughts roll not beneath the dust No feeling is in the cold grave They have leaped to other worlds They are far above t...

 Evolution Predicts the Flowering of Mustard Plants

Here’s another prediction: under prolonged drought, natural selection will lead to the evolution of plants that flower earlier than their ancestors. This is because, during a drought, soils dry out quickly after the rains. If you’re a plant that doesn’t flower and produce seeds quickly in a drought, you leave no descendants. Under normal weather conditions, on the other hand, it pays to delay flowering so that you can grow larger and produce even more seeds. This prediction was tested ...

 It Takes Nature and Nurture

A third-grade boy comes home and hands his father his report card. His father looks at it and says, “How do you explain these D’s and F’s? The boy looks up at him and says, “You tell me: Is it nature or nurture?” I was once at a lively, noisy science fair with my own third-grade son, and we were touring some of his classmates efforts. Several experiments involved seeds, soil, and growth curves. One memorable little girl took great pains to explain to us that her seeds had started ...

 Evolution as a Constant Arms-Race

One of the peculiar features of history is that time always erodes advantage. Every invention sooner or later leads to a counterinvention. Every success contains the seeds of its own overthrow. Every hegemony comes to an end. Evolutionary history is no different. Progress and success are always relative. When the land was unoccupied by animals, the first amphibian to emerge from the sea could get away with being slow, lumbering, and fishlike, for it had no enemies and no competitors. But if a...