Alien Minds by Susan Schneider

Would Aliens be conscious? This is an important question but hard, if not impossible, one to answer. I guess this is part of what we need to know to be ready for first contact. Philosophers have been asking similar questions about Artificial Intelligence with no clear answer. The problem lies of course in that we don't know, yet, what consciousness is, and where it lies in our bodies (or somewhere else). 

One way to explore this topic is by speculating about the nature of aliens and draw parallels with our experience. Would it be more likely that aliens, if they are so technologically advanced to come here, have already evolved into postbiological beings? Some sort of Superintelligent Atificial Intelligence (SAI)? "Silicon is a better medium for thinking than carbon." However, could silicon-based superintelligent beings be conscious? 🤔 

Here on earth, scientists are already predicting a singularity in the coming decades. We will create superintelligent AI. Will they be conscious? 🤔 

And what about the scientists working on mind upload? That process in which you make digital copies of your brain/mind and upload them into a computer. Will that digital copy be YOU? Will it be conscious? Biological Naturalism states that "consciousness requires a biological substrate" so supporters of this movement would reject any silicon-based life form theory. Interesting read which raises more questions than answers.

Operation Paperclip. The Secret Intelligence Program that brought Nazi scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen.

Nazi scientists brought to the USA right after WWII to help the "good guys" against the soviet threat. A true conspiracy by the USA government, not the whole government but a tiny portion. 

It wasn't 2 or 3 nazis but hundreds!! Some of them major war criminals who avoided trial or harsh sentences thanks to the intervention of dark forces in the military who thought those wonderful minds were needed in the States.... Scientists, members of the Nazi party who reached high ranks in their specialities, who mingled with Hitler, Himmler and other big names, and who used their power to torture and kill prisoners of war and innocent people trapped in concentration camps. Scientists slaved prisoners to build rockets in underground factories with no food or water until they died. Corpses were removed and new prisoners were acquired. Scientists experimented on prisoners to test drugs or biological agents. They froze and drawn people, they mutilated people with no anaesthetic, they sterilised, they infected prisoners with lethal viruses, and other biological agents. 

Knowing all of the above, these dark forces turned a blind eye in their quest to get more and more of those brilliant minds. Their science was decades ahead of the american's something needed to be done to get it. No ethical questions asked, but only a veil of secrecy not even their president would know what was happening for years. 

And the result, so much progress in so many fields, which made so many people proud of their country. Several of these Scientists became wealthy and famous. Some of them got buildings and prizes named after them. 

But, at what price? What would you say, would u change history and send those Scientists away or would u turn a blind eye? This was great & thought provoking. A bit long thought I needed some motivation to keep on reading but I think it was worth it.

The Pics below show some extras abt Wernher von Braun, the Nazi criminal who became the key figure in moon landing. 

The Mist by Ragnar Jónasson

Third book in the Hidden Iceland series. 

So far so good. The protagonist is tops and the writing addictive.

Klara and the Sun by Katsuo Ishiguro

Would human technology ever achieve not only General Artificial Intelligence but Emotional Intelligence? Would AI be able to love? This novel looks into these questions through the eyes of an android specialised in caring for young people. Unlike other novels I’ve read in which AI narrate the story with machine-like language Klara seems for most of the time human. Of course we always know “she” is a machine programmed to be good to people. We know that “she” does not have real feelings but sometimes we wished she had them. Klara is a wonderful character. Not only is she multi-dimensional: she is curious, she wants to learn, she wants to do her job right and she is capable of sacrificing “herself” to help others, but “she” provides an original lens to explore humanity. Though the story takes place only in a small geographical area, mostly a store and Klara’s owners house, the wider world is implied through glimpses in conversations Klara witnesses. 

And the topic of the sun is super interesting. Klara gets her energy from the sun. She believes the sun can also do good to people. Not only by providing warmth and vitamin D but by “doing” things to people. 

There isn’t much action in the novel. It is slow paced and only in p200 (out of 307p) there is a turn, a shocking revelation. However the writing is griping, it sucks you in a gentle way. Read it.

Sucedió en Lago Huesos de Víctor Hugo Rotaheche

Una antología de relatos variados. 

Víctor Hugo tiene un canal de YouTube. Ahí lo descubrí. Cuando dijo que había publicado este libro, pensé, otro youtuber que publica un libro. 😬 Luego publicó extractos pequeños de sus escritos aquí en Instagram y me gustó el estilo. Y aquí me encuentro habiendo terminado el libro. 😁 

Comentarios. Empiezo por lo positivo. Me gustó su manera de escribir. Sencilla pero fluida. No tuve que forzarme a leer, ni en ningún momento pensé en abandonar la lectura. El estilo no esta muy pulido pero le encuentro potencial. Me gustaron varias de las historias. 

La primera historia me dio escalofríos e incomodidad. Una sensación parecida a la que me da la triptofobia 😱 Auch. 

Una historia que tocó mi lado sensible fue Una visita matutina, sobre un padre que hace visitas regulares a su hija. 

La pesadilla, que tiene tintes Lovecraftianos, está buena. Me pareció original. 

Águila Negra/La Promesa: es como una secuela de una serie de historietas que Rotaheche leía de joven. Me atrapó. 

Sucedió en Lago Huesos, me pareció muy buena la historia y el twist en la última página. Me cogió desprevenida. 

L.I (Lector Ideal) es sobre un escritor y sus frustraciones. Y como de casualidad se cruza con alguien que lo puede ayudar. El twist al final me gustó. Este cuento me pareció un poco autobiográfico ¿será? 

Lo negativo. No me gustaron todas las historias. Sobretodo, las super cortas. ¿Será por mis gustos personales que prefiero historias largas? No sé. 

No encontré un hilo conductor en la antología. Algo que conecte las historias entre ellas. 

El formato del libro en Kindle necesita más trabajo. Más de una vez me confundí al empezar otro cuento y yo sin darme cuenta. El título del segundo cuento no estaba resaltado ni nada, y yo pensé que era parte del anterior.

The Quantum and the Lotus by Matthieu Ricard (Buddhist monk) and Trinh Xuan Thuan (scientist)

A Journey to the Frontiers where Science and Buddhism meet. It was a journey indeed. Written as a dialogue, Matthieu and Thuan discuss their views on topics such as the origin and nature of the universe, is there a god?, artificial intelligence, #consciousness and others. In exploring those topics the Rational, Analytical Scientific approach is contrasted with the Buddhist Contemplative approach. 

I liked how much the authors respected each other views. 

Surprisingly the book reveals how much Scientific and Buddhist views of nature coincide. And I thought they were going to differ considerably. Buddhism is not your typical creationist, dogmatic religion. Buddhism is a quest for enlightenment. A search for knowledge but unlike science, which does objective, falsifiable experiments, Buddhism goes for introspection to know the world from within. The aim is not truth but happiness or the end of suffering. 

A point where both approaches kind of overlap is #physics, believe it or not. Theories such as the Special Theory of Relativity and General Theory of Relativity by Einstein, Quantum theory and its powerful implications to current (realist) paradigms, those and more concur with Buddhist views of the universe. Buddhists believe that there is not point in looking for the beginning of the universe or any beginning for that matter. There are no beginnings or endings. Phenomena do not have independent, discrete existence but are explained through their relationships with others. Everything is “empty” meaning it lacks inherent nature. Things cannot begin as they cannot be the cause of themselves. Therefore they appear.

Here a couple of quotes because I still need to process these concepts and cannot say more: 

* Any approach to the question of origins forces us to adopt a metaphysical position. As Françios Jacob said, “One field must be totally excluded from scientific enquiry: the origin of the world.” … the only metaphysical approach to the question of a beginning that stands up to analysis is the absence of any beginning. Any other possibility inevitably leads to a causeless cause, something immutable that changes itself, or nothing becoming something. 

* In the Buddhist viewpoint, this Western obsession – in religion, philosophy, and science – with a beginning derives from a stubborn belief in the reality of phenomena: objects really “exist” as we see them, and so must have a beginning. This approach forces scientists into performing complicated juggling acts when trying to reconcile the results of quantum mechanics with a reassuring vision of the world, thus preserving us from having to put our ordinary perception of things into question.