As of late, I don't think I've felt as close to anyone as I have to dead (but linguistically immortal) authors. Christopher Hitchens, Bertrand Russell, Frederick Douglass...All have provided moments of insight and inspiration that allow me to imagine the person that I want to be, and to ever work toward becoming. When reading their works, I'm often swept by a warm and timeless feeling that I am not just understood by them, but I am them. Never have I entertained the idea of reincarnation more, and simultaneously be ashamed for making such a comparison in the first place. Nevertheless, despite my own embarrassment in failing to emulate their characters, I still aim to learn from the lessons they have taught. Christopher Hitchens I first came across the fast-talking genius of Hitch through YouTube videos in which he ruthlessly cut down opponents in debates. His disgust of the disingenuous led to my own annoyance of the sort and his piercing logic seems only available to m...

Ethics and Artificial Intelligence have been the focal point of my thoughts in the last few months and the Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor has played no small role in that. The Bobiverse, so far, consists of two novels: We are Legion (We are Bob) and For We Are Many . In this post, I want to dive into several of the ethical concerns the main character Bob faces and how he handles them. What sort of problems might the possibly smartest being(s) in the universe face? Bob Bob-1 is a whole brain emulated A.I. Whole brain emulation requires the downloading or a scanning of a human brain into an electronic form. It's often considered a quicker way of reaching super intelligence as you're not forced to start from scratch with machine learning. This new version of the deceased Bob Johansson is operating a star-ship in the hopes of finding new planets for humanity to inhabit. The easiest way for Bob to do this is to make copies of himself, leaning on  the concept of Von ...