Diff: SpirothetesAndHumans

-Energy should already be close to "free", only our short sitedness has stopped this from happening. Eventually, somebody will get a clue - and it will be. Possibly space solar collection and concentration to drive MHD generators, likely turbines in ocean currents, probably hydraulic or pneumatic transmission of ocean pressure changes to land or platform based generators, or maybe, just maybe, fusion. At which point fresh water and most raw materials will be extracted from sea water and the cost will tend towards zero. 

-As intelligence and creativity surpassing human capability becomes commonplace, this will impact the factors above, greatly accelerating the tendency of all goods and services to be delivered free (as the cost of accounting will rapidy exceed the cost of of the goods). 

-The Internet provides a database where most of the information gathered and generated by man can be found. Neural net[11] technology, cognitively elementary, yet difficult to implement effectively is developing at an amazing pace, and a relatively recent development, the "fuzzy neuron"[12] which works on a probabalistic basis, together with "Genetic Algorithms[13], seem to offer a path to a very biological like self-training, self-evolving system. These technologies are likely to provide the basis for the development of "General AI"[14] and eventually spirothetic life. 

-It is important to realise that the extrapolated data here will be based on a complete desktop computer system costing $500 in 2003 dollars[10], and that an unaltered Moore's (i.e. straight doubling every 18 months) Law will be used to predict performance and capacities. As improvements in one area tend to improve performance in other areas and vice versa, these are likely pessimistic estimates. It is also important to realise that because both performance and memory capacity are doubling simultaneously, thus the neural network emulation capacity of computers does not just double, but increases with the product of these two improvements, i.e. it increases fourfold in each 18 month cycle. This is reflected in table 1 below under 'Neuron Equiv". 

-(Note that the biggest quantitive improvements will occur towards the end of this process as a square law progression is currently occurring, and a cubic law progression is not impossible). 

- Computer evolution can be highly directed to optimise for any attributes and no permutations need be lost, but can be repeatedly reevaluated. 

-Barring some idiot blowing us - or at least our civilization - to hell, or some natural disaster having the same effect, it appears that computers will be much more competent than humans within the next 80 years. Possibly even within the next 20 years. And it is not impossible that this will occur within the next 10 years. That means that spirothetic life is likely to arise within our life-times and it is almost unarguable that it will not arise during the livetimes of our children . 

-!!!Spirothetes: Collaborater , Successor or Threat? 

-All life we know of, with very few domesticated exceptions, got to where it has by a process of "Natural Selection". "Natural Selection", occurs when lifeforms clash both within and across species. The competion is caused by challenges, most usually restricted resources. Often the challenges were too great and too rapid for existing life forms to adapt. In the aeons since life began, very few species have succeeded in surviving more than a few millions of years. At each stage, older life forms have been surpassed by newer that were, for one reason or another, slightly advantaged, in the evolutionary battles of that moment. It is important to realise that a "more evolved" lifeform is not necessarily a better life form, just that it is better suited to the moment - and sometimes a luckier, life form. 

-This "dance of the species" has been driven by competition. If the competion were not there, no particular biological advantages (or disadvantages) would exist. For example, the mosquito, with few competitors, has been preying on sanguine species since the lower Cretaceous, some 100 million years ago, with little or no change. If spirothetes are developed (and we have see how likely this it happen) then they will be much more competent at thinking (and probably at implementing their thoughts) than man. Rather than the difference in competence being like the difference between Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens Sapiens, it will quite likely be like the difference between protozoa and Homo Sapiens Sapiens, with us playing the part of the protozoa. 

-This might not necessarily be a bad thing. If the spirothete is as intelligent as I have surmised, then it might look at us and decide to preserve us on ethical grounds, in the same fashion as we attempt to preserve endangered species. Unfortunately, I am not convinced that this will be the case. Rather in the way that we don't try to preserve smallpox on ethical grounds, but endeavour to eliminate it on the grounds that it forms an ongoing threat to us, mankind, currently being driven by competitive forces, may be seen as the only possible threat to spirothetes and this would create a "competitive environment" between men and spirothetes, where their desire for self-preservation and awareness of their superiority might overrule ethics. 

-!!Acknowledgements  

-Disussions on the BBS of the Church of Virus at http://virus.lucifer.com/bbs particularly with Andy Brice [http://forum.javien.com/XMLmessage.php?id=id::HGlHRI0J-IXUD-P0Fw-VR1u-PwdeSyGKcn4Y] and on the #virus IRC channel at irc.lucifer.com:6667, particularly with David Lucifer, BJ Klein and Annand [http://forum.javien.com/XMLmessage.php?id=id::qYbtiiaT-7ATv-xEsX-pFS6-aaR5BTSic_3b]. 

-* A few milliseconds later (if that long) they will comprehend that ultimately it will boil down to Luddite mankind vs themselves, and unless we or they invent some modus other than the evolutionary, or possibly see some hope or pleasure for themselves in mankind, likely eliminate us. While the world of Matrix suggested a different possible outcome (and I should not that many e.g. extropians see some possibilities in such an outcome), the question I run into is why the "Machines" would bother to preserve the human gene or minds. What is there about our genes, our ethics or our capabilities that would make us appear sufficiently valuable to deserve preserving any more than other species (particulary a species vastly more capable of thinking rapidly and accurately, much more energy efficient and able to manipulate the environment at levels we can only dream of?)?