I think there are a bunch of blockchain projects trying to work on identity and voting (like QuarkID, AnonAadhaar), but the key problem is how to bootstrap identity system first. The simplest solution is to make use of a public key issued and managed by the government, but if there is one, then the government can just set up e-voting themselves, like in Estonia.
But yeah, it’s astonishing today that there still isn’t reliable polling, such that politicians can credibly claim that they don’t really know what their constituents actually want (perhaps many prefer it that way). But I think this is changing: There's a project called pol.is which is pretty interesting (https://pol.is/report/r2xcn2cdbmrzjmmuuytdk). I predict that by 2028 there should be at least one congressional candidate that will run on a platform of direct democracy via digital polling.
re: "Imagine experiencing existence without the constraints of physical form, no body to separate itself from the world."
The body isn't what separates us from the world. The body is of the world. The mind is what separates us from the world. Because the world is fundamentally constraining, to experience it without constraints would be to experience it not at all.
Loved the article. Always figured that unknown athmospheric phenomenon (like ball lightning) where just as plausible an explanation of UFO’s as alien spacecraft. Honestly even if they’re ‚craft’ of a sort, it’s almost more likely they’re interdimensional or something else beyond our (current) understanding than something as basic as ‚us from a diferrent world’.
You can find these "placeholders" even in science.
The much-publicized theory of "Dark matter" began as a placeholder, but then - perhaps because we tend to confuse the map with the territory - morphed into a concept of actual invisible matter...
(Whenever people talk about dark matter, I think: "epicycles." It's a placeholder for something we haven't understood yet.)
Having a physical body is not a constraint. It is a precondition for sentience as we know it. Any form of digital being would be completely incomprehensible to us.
Brains in jars aren't too different from chips in boxes (well they're completely different on some levels), but I figure sentience knows sentience, kind of by definition, which implies requisite comprehension, regardless of the substrate.
Otherwise it's like a force of nature, perhaps, akin to the weather. Perceptible as a system, and yet mostly incomprehensible, even so.
I think there are a bunch of blockchain projects trying to work on identity and voting (like QuarkID, AnonAadhaar), but the key problem is how to bootstrap identity system first. The simplest solution is to make use of a public key issued and managed by the government, but if there is one, then the government can just set up e-voting themselves, like in Estonia.
But yeah, it’s astonishing today that there still isn’t reliable polling, such that politicians can credibly claim that they don’t really know what their constituents actually want (perhaps many prefer it that way). But I think this is changing: There's a project called pol.is which is pretty interesting (https://pol.is/report/r2xcn2cdbmrzjmmuuytdk). I predict that by 2028 there should be at least one congressional candidate that will run on a platform of direct democracy via digital polling.
re: "Imagine experiencing existence without the constraints of physical form, no body to separate itself from the world."
The body isn't what separates us from the world. The body is of the world. The mind is what separates us from the world. Because the world is fundamentally constraining, to experience it without constraints would be to experience it not at all.
You’re right + such an entity would need constraints of some kind, even if only in cyberspace.
Loved the article. Always figured that unknown athmospheric phenomenon (like ball lightning) where just as plausible an explanation of UFO’s as alien spacecraft. Honestly even if they’re ‚craft’ of a sort, it’s almost more likely they’re interdimensional or something else beyond our (current) understanding than something as basic as ‚us from a diferrent world’.
I love the « culture of placeholder » so so smart
You can find these "placeholders" even in science.
The much-publicized theory of "Dark matter" began as a placeholder, but then - perhaps because we tend to confuse the map with the territory - morphed into a concept of actual invisible matter...
(Whenever people talk about dark matter, I think: "epicycles." It's a placeholder for something we haven't understood yet.)
Neil De Grasse Tyson calls it “Dark gravity” because “Dark matter” assumes the source, but gravity is actually what appears to be there.
[Darth Vader impersonation] "If only you knew the power of the Dark Gravity!" [*Puff* *Wheeze*]
Sorry, couldn't resist... ;-)
Having a physical body is not a constraint. It is a precondition for sentience as we know it. Any form of digital being would be completely incomprehensible to us.
Brains in jars aren't too different from chips in boxes (well they're completely different on some levels), but I figure sentience knows sentience, kind of by definition, which implies requisite comprehension, regardless of the substrate.
Otherwise it's like a force of nature, perhaps, akin to the weather. Perceptible as a system, and yet mostly incomprehensible, even so.
What would a cloud even say? 😀
Interesting to think about!
Crazy thought but I think these are the questions that will get us to the bottom of why people use neopronouns
Is there a mystery to why some people use neopronouns? (Beyond The Great Mystery, of the difference between "one", and "many", of course! 😄)
Further reading:
- WILD CARD (1976) by Raymond Hawkey & Roger Bingham
https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Card-Raymond-Hawkey/dp/0586042369
- "Sovereignty and the UFO" (2008) by Alexander Wendt & Raymond Duvall
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0090591708317902
- "What We're Talking About When We're (Not) Talking About Extraterrestrials" by A.R.Yngve
https://aryngve.substack.com/p/what-were-talking-about-when-were