The Shunned House by H.P. Lovecraft.

A creepy read perfect to send off this hideous year. MWAHAHAHA

The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era by Vernor Vinge (1993)

I haven't read any fiction by Vinge yet but felt compelled to read his well known essay after some of my previous reads which refer to Vinge or discuss the topic. Also, it is a short read.

I first read about Singularities in Wonders of the Universe (Cox) and then The Illustrated A Brief History of Time (Hawking), referring to the Bing Bang and Black Holes. In those points/places mathematical calculations reach divisions by zero, or infinite, meaning the rules of (known) physics do not apply. Recently I also read a novel called Diaspora by Greg Egan in which characters travel through Singularities (totallyrecommendit. ).

The topic of Vinge's essay is different from the above. It discusses our future after we develop super human intelligence. This is a well-known essay, as it is in this paper (as far as I know) that Vinge coined the term (Technological) Singularity to mean that point in which we, humans will cease to be the most intelligent things on earth. Previously I had read a thesis on Singularities and literature and recently a much recommended Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark which opened my mind to so many possibilities. Also the last novel I read was Accelerando by Charles Stross, difficult read but worth it. Among other things it explores the effects of a Technological Singularity on economics and humanity way of living.

For the blood is the life by F. Marion Crawford

A vampire short story! I liked Crawford's writing style and that it was set in hot Italy.

New Scientist. Essential Guide N °4. Our Human Story. How one species walked upright and conquered the world.

Super Interesting Read. I loved it. My favourite chapter is Chapter 4: What makes us human. And my favourite article in that chapter has to be The Cave Art Code. Which discusses early signs of writing left with paintings. It looks into Gnevieve von Petzinger's (a canadian paleoanthropologist) study of cave art around the world. She identified a series of symbols repeated across several sites around the world. The similarities so evident she thinks they might be more than scratches. See photo 10. By the way von Petzinger published a book titled The first signs: Unlocking the mysteries of the world's oldest symbols. I'm tempted to get it now.

Accelerando by Charles Stross

This book made my brain explode. It's a novel comprised of short stories following 3 generations of a family. First 3 stories follow Manfred Macx, next 3 stories his daughter Amber, last 3 stories follow Shirhan, the grandson, son of Amber.

I found this to be a very dense, layered novel. Not that the writing is complicated but that is charged with numerous concepts, plus the story is complex. There is Artificial Intelligence, Singularity, Transhumans, Posthumans (they are called the evil offspring, not sure how they evolved). Also through time, humans are able to upload their consciousness on simulated realities, or keep copies so they could be resurrected in new bodies. Because consciousness are now software, very much transportable and not dependable on meat bodies, people are able to do incredible things with themselves. For example forking, that's, creating multiple copies of themselves, which could become independent individuals or could synchronise back again into the original.

If the above wasn't enough, humans, are able to travel vast distances and meet other species and the technologies they leave around. I found, one of them, the Matrioshka brains super intrensting. Russian doll Dyson spheres the size of solar systems.

Two aspects of the story I couldn't follow much were the economic and legal aspects. The book criticises capitalism and dwells into legal terminology that lost me. One thing I understood and liked though was the idea of changing the Intellectual Property/Copyright paradigm towards AI, to Civil Rights perspective. The idea is further developed to include aliens.

What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Sri Rahula

👍👍👍👍👍

An excellent introduction to Buddhism. Loads of information and insights into the Buddha's teachings. It is written in an easy to read style but the subject matter is layered, multidimensional and includes a network of concepts.

Dukkha, the 5 aggregates , Mind, Consciousness, Karma, Thirst, Free Will, Mindfulness, Nirvana....

"According to Buddhism, the Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the world, that everything is relative, conditioned and impermanent, and that there is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute substance like Self, Soul or Atman within or without."

Buddhist meditation" Insight into the nature of things, leading to the complete liberation of mind, to the realisation of the Ultimate Truth, Nirvana."

As in Buddhism there is no" I" or "Self" when we meditate we should forget about "my feelings", "my anger", etc. We should see those things as objective observers.

Life 3.0 Being human in the age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark

A super interesting read. Learned a lot.

I particularly enjoyed the 4 chapters in which Tegmark discusses possible scenarios of AI being developed in the near, far and very far future. I also appreciate his working definitions of Intelligence and Consciousness, background and how they play an important role in the development of future AI technology.

Intelligence: the ability to accomplish complex goals

AGI: Artificial General Intelligence, able to accomplish any goals, at least like humans.

Intelligence Explosion: birth of a Singularity

Consciousness: subjective experience.

What makes matter conscious? What physical properties distinguish conscious and unconscious systems?

Table of Contents

Prelude: The Tale of the Omega Team

1. Welcome to the Most Important Conversation of our time

2. Matter turns Intelligent

3. The Near Future: Breakthroughs, Bugs, Laws, Weapons and Jobs

4. Intelligence Explosion?

5. Aftermath: the Next 10,000 years

6. Our Cosmic Endowment: the Next Billion Years and Beyond

7. Goals

8. Consciousness

Epilogue: The Tale of the FLI Team