When machine becomes mind.

There is a theory in current cognitive science that suggests that if a number of partially interconnecting nodes in certain configurations, in numbers equal to the neurons of any particular animal's brain, would constitute a kind of animal intelligence.

Prelimenary work on this theory is inconclusive, although some success has been made in replicating certain types of intelligence. Creating original and beautiful (by human opinion) music, is one. Chess, and many other games can be played by computers. There are examples of them painting complex original works, for another. I could go on, but not all night.

It's amazing (in my opinion) that we have made it this far. Humans don't tend to ever lose technology. They just find less use for it over time. If there was a graph, it's apex is usually within a century of it's invention. This in itself is a recent development, but only if you consider the entirety human history. Before than, the apex may have come millenia after the initial discovery that led to the technological revolution.

Assuming we can continue innovating (we don't run into a catastrophe) then it's safe to assume at some point we'll create a program, running on hardware that is difficult to imagine, that we can replicate a complete and witty computer mind.

A decade or so later, we might have one on a 1000$ machine. Imagine, if the herPhone or hePhone itself was worth calling.

But none of this will be possible without a fuller understanding of the human brain. As it is right now, we've only really scratched the surface on how the chemistry of our emotions is made up. There are pheromones, hormones, peptides, cannibinoids, and loads of other amazing and difficult to reproduce strings of proteins and other chemistry that are at play inside your head, even as you read this.

So not only will we have to master interconnections and plasticized circuitry, evolving cognitive patterns, and a hundred other attributes of thought, we must replicate the organic compounds, or at least their neurological and psychological effects. Add to this, the trouble of teaching the computer to "learn" instead of just being fed databases. To truly integrate information, ideas, and other creations into the Nodemind. To make it's own conclusions based on the available information, and it's own experiences since it was first activated, as we do. You may be reading the term Nodemind here first.

So, when our hePhones or herPhones have simulated faces, and simulated minds, are helpful, friendly, sometimes rude/polite, sometimes interesting/annoying, in short, rounded individuals, will humanity be ready to accept them? Will we still be so foolish as to think of such an entity as a possession; as owned?

What will be the rights assigned to them? What will we consider crimes, both commited against them, and by them? What would be the punishment? What would they consider rewarding, that we could provide? Perhaps like us, they will be curious, inquisitive, explorers of the digital universe. How will they be limited? Will they all be able to communicate with the others like them? Will they want to? Could they ever plot against us without us knowing? Will we remember to include a failsafe?

Sounds like what used to be questions for science fiction is about to include a jolt of alarming reality.

If human beliefs are the sandbox, our spiritual/religious beliefs are the wood blocks. Inevitably, after playing in the sand for the summer, you have to either buy more sand or grow the box to get back the sand that fell out. The sand in this metaphor is E, or Qi, or in plain English, the energy.

The Torah, the Ko'ran and the Bible were all superbly well written books, all with many layers of meaning, routed in an interesting history. The Abrahamic (read: "western") religions all speak of a God that seems to be pervasive, omnipresen, and therefor somehow outside the Self. Hinduism sees, as do Buddhists and particle physicists, that the all is in the Self. It is the Self. You are always with your Self. Conversely your Self is always with you. Some scientists call the conscious Self the "observer".

In Hinduism, gods of everything are worshipped, and every living thing is considered worthy of praise. The river and the mountain tops.The rain, and the earth. The sun and all the many billions of stars. But still, why do we worship them, but for their value in the cosmic universe. If you, [insert name], was not there to witness your universe, it would not exist. That's a fact that can be proven through experiment and some serious math bonkers. [googl: wiki double slit experiment]. Make sure you you include the wiki part, else you Googl something your grandmother doesn't want to see.

Tao of Spiritual Machine (cont'd)

The importance of living in the present during meditation is central to the true purpose of No-Mind. When reflecting, in No-Thought, be as a diamond in the the Indra Net:

Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net that has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each "eye" of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in all dimensions, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring.

'Karma should be part of any religion, and I'm starting to see how that's true for any of the big ones, in many ways. ' -S.M. in conversations with D.