ecstadelic.net
  • Home | Search
  • e_News™
  • Top Stories
  • Vids
  • Books
  • Premium Access*
  • Store
  • Support
  • Author_Hub™
  • About
  • Contact
Picture

Free Will: Your Conscious Choice in Our Quantum Multiverse

11/20/2016

1 Comment

 
by Alex Vikoulov
Picture

"Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response.”  
―Mildred Barthel

"Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism, the way you play it is free will." 
―Jawaharlal Nehru


In our rapidly accelerating times, humans become more machine-like, and sentient machines become more human-like. Before long, it might look like a typical generation gap problem, our AGIs, our "mind children," would grow up and develop features that we could find increasingly difficult to understand and control. Like all conservative parents, we might be puzzled and frightened by processes that appear completely alien to us. We would be intermittently nostalgic about the good old times, aggressive in our attempts to contain our "children" but at the same time proud of their phenomenal advance. Eventually, some of us may retire under their care, while blaming them for destroying our old-fashioned world. And only those of us who are the bravest and youngest at heart will join the next generation of life by becoming part of superintelligent cyberhumanity.

Your choice does matter! Although some neuroscientists contend that free will is an illusion, I would respectfully disagree by saying that free will may be slightly overrated but still indispensable for consciousness to function in our physical world. In fact, free will and consciousness are inseparable. Free will, just like intentionality, is an integral feature of consciousness, "conscious choice" made by mind with the guidance of the larger consciousness system and our collective will in the space of all logically available probabilities (more on that in my book “The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind's Evolution”).

All realities are observer-dependent. As John Wheeler, one of the brightest minds of the 20th century puts it, we live in a "participatory universe." Rephrasing Descartes’ famous principle, “I think therefore I am,” Quantum Physics would instead state, “I choose therefore I am.”
In our computational Quantum Multiverse, an infinitely large number of alternate timelines and versions of you are mathematically possible, but your mind actualizes, "choses to observe" only a certain probabilistic outcome in this "multi-player virtual reality" of Tom Campbell, or "participatory universe" of John Wheeler. "Star Trek holodeck" analogy would also work just fine in that regard.

​Be mindful of your conscious choices -- every time you play a violent video game or watch a violent movie, or overfocus on negative news or mundane negativity, every time you pay attention to negative news or hate propaganda or fear-mongering populism, you inadvertently skew your probable futures toward a less pleasant timeline, by default. Your linguistic choices, your beliefs and biases shape your subjective reality in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to evolve your consciousness and to transcend yourself...


... ​to continue reading the story:
Picture

​Tags: self-transcendence, transcendence, neuroscience, collective intelligence, sentience, self-awareness, strong AI, human psychology, human motivation, artificial intelligence, Mildred Barthel, John Wheeler, Tom Campbell, Quantum Multiverse, Syntellect Hypothesis, Quantum Mechanics, Star Trek, conscious experience, superintelligence, singularity, mind uploading, postbiological superintelligence, posthuman superintelligence, Syntellect emergence, technological singularity, dimensionality, multiversal fractality, conscious agent, human evolution, human condition, multiverse landscape, AI assistant, transcendent other, AGI, artificial general intelligence, transhumanism, participatory universe, experiential realism, philosophy of mind, science of mind, evolution of consciousness, phenomenology, posthumanism, transcendentalism, neo-transcendentalism

*Image Credit: Ecstadelic Media, Shutterstock


About the Author:
Alex Vikoulov is a Russian-American futurist, evolutionary cyberneticist, philosopher of mind, CEO/Editor-in-Chief of Ecstadelic Media Group, painter, essayist, media commentator, author of "The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind's Evolution," "The Origins of Us: Evolutionary Emergence and The Omega Point Cosmology," "The Physics of Time: D-Theory of Time & Temporal Mechanics," "The Intelligence Supernova: Essays on Cybernetic Transhumanism, The Simulation Singularity & The Syntellect Emergence," "Theology of Digital Physics: Phenomenal Consciousness, The Cosmic Self & The Pantheistic Interpretation of Our Holographic Reality," "NOOGENESIS: Computational Biology," "TECHNOCULTURE: The Rise of Man." Self-described neo-transcendentalist, cosmist, transhumanist singularitarian. Lives in Burlingame, California (San Francisco Bay Area). More Bio...

Author Website: www.alexvikoulov.com
​
e-mail: alexvikoulov@ecstadelic.net

​​
Picture
1 Comment
Robert Martin
12/25/2016 12:08:20 pm

I think what we are seeing here is a pattern in the universal structure and composition. Admittedly I am not a quantum physicist but we see the same theme in the universal building blocks and structure of small objects "orbiting" larger bodies or those bodies with more elemental mass. It is theorized that Higgs Boson particles are structurally similar to atoms which have a core of protons & neutrons with orbiting electrons. On a larger scale we see the planets being orbited by moons, stars being orbited by planets, super massive black holes being orbited by star systems, galactic centers being orbited by star systems and nebulas, galaxies themselves orbiting around the universal center as they push out from the origins of the Big Bang, now the multiverse or "M Theory" says that our universe my be in orbit with many others.... is there something even bigger than the multiverse with the same basic structure ?? And particles even small than Higgs Boson that the have yet to detect ?? Perhaps universes like ours are born much in the same way as collapsing stars and black holes that pull all matter back to the center until a cataclysmic explosion gives birth to a new star ? Perhaps our universe has been repeating this cycle for trillions and trillions of years ?? We see these patterns over and over in nature with a center having objects drawn to it.....

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    AI & Cybernetics
    Cognitive Science
    Complexity
    Consciousness
    Cosmology
    Digital Philosophy
    Digital Physics
    Economics
    Emergence
    Environment
    Epigenetics
    Ethics
    Evolution
    Evolutionary Biology
    Experiential Realism
    Experimental Science
    Fermi Paradox
    Free Will Vs. Determinism
    Futurism
    Gaia 2.0
    Global Brain
    Immortality
    Machine Learning
    Mathematics
    Memetics
    Mind Uploading
    Nanotechnology
    Neo Transcendentalism
    Neural Networks
    Neurophilosophy
    Neuroscience
    Phenomenology
    Philosophy Of Mind
    Physics Of Time
    Psychedelics
    Psychology
    Quantum Computing
    Quantum Gravity
    Quantum Physics
    Sci Fi
    Simulation Hypothesis
    Sociology
    Spirituality
    Technological Singularity
    Theology
    Transhumanism
    Virtual Reality


    ​Recent Publications
    The Cybernetic Theory of Mind by Alex M. Vikoulov (2022): eBook Series
    The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind's Evolution by Alex M. Vikoulov (2020): eBook Paperback Hardcover Audiobook
    ​​​The Omega Singularity: Universal Mind & The Fractal Multiverse by Alex M. Vikoulov (2022): eBook
    ​
    THEOGENESIS: Transdimensional Propagation & Universal Expansion by Alex M. Vikoulov (2021): eBook
    ​
    The Cybernetic Singularity: The Syntellect Emergence by Alex M. Vikoulov (2021): eBook
    TECHNOCULTURE: The Rise of Man by Alex M. Vikoulov (2020) eBook
    NOOGENESIS: Computational Biology by Alex M. Vikoulov (2020): eBook
    The Ouroboros Code: Reality's Digital Alchemy Self-Simulation Bridging Science and Spirituality by Antonin Tuynman (2019) eBook Paperback
    The Science and Philosophy of Information
    by Alex M. Vikoulov (2019): eBook Series
    ​Theology of Digital Physics: Phenomenal Consciousness, The Cosmic Self & The Pantheistic Interpretation of Our Holographic Reality by Alex M. Vikoulov (2019) eBook

    The Intelligence Supernova: Essays on Cybernetic Transhumanism, The Simulation Singularity & The Syntellect Emergence by Alex M. Vikoulov (2019) eBook
    The Physics of Time: D-Theory of Time & Temporal Mechanics by Alex M. Vikoulov (2019): eBook
    The Origins of Us: Evolutionary Emergence and The Omega Point Cosmology by Alex M. Vikoulov (2019): eBook
    More Than An Algorithm: Exploring the gap between natural evolution and digitally computed artificial intelligence by Antonin Tuynman (2019): 
    eBook
    ​
    ​Our Facebook Pages
    Picture
    Picture

    A quote on the go


    "When I woke up one morning I got poetically epiphanized: To us, our dreams at night feel “oh so real” when inside them but they are what they are - dreams against the backdrop of daily reality. Our daily reality is like nightly dreams against the backdrop of the larger reality. This is something we all know deep down to be true... The question then becomes how to "lucidify" this dream of reality?"— Alex M. Vikoulov

    Goodreads Quotes

    ​Public Forums
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Our Reddit Community
    Picture
    Our YouTube Channel
    Picture
    Our Redbubble Webstore
    Picture
    #ecstadelic collection (keyword-based design on products from apparel to home decor)
    Picture
    The Book Club collection (Your favorite book front cover on products from apparel to accessories)

    ​Our Flipboard Magazine
    Picture

    ​Be Part of Our Network!
    ​*Subscribe to Premium Access
    Make a Donation
    Syndicate Content
    ​
    ​Write a Paid Review

    Submit Your Article
    Submit Your Press Release
    Submit Your e-News
    Contact Us
    ​
      Enter your e-mail*
    OK!


    ​​Archives

    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Picture
Copyright © 2016-2022 Ecstadelic Media Group, Burlingame, California, USA
  • Home | Search
  • e_News™
  • Top Stories
  • Vids
  • Books
  • Premium Access*
  • Store
  • Support
  • Author_Hub™
  • About
  • Contact