#singular

A modern civilization is only possible when it is accepted that singular beings exist and express themselves freely. ↗

— Tahar Ben Jelloun

#beings #civilization #exist #express #freely

A file on a hard disk does indeed contain information of the kind that objectively exists. The fact that the bits are discernible instead of being scrambled into mush - the way heat scrambles things - is what makes them bits. But if the bits can potentially mean something to someone, they can only do so if they are experienced. When that happens, a commonality of culture is enacted between the storer and the retriever of the bits. Experience is the only process that can de-alienate information. Information of the kind that purportedly wants to be free is nothing but a shadow of our own minds, and wants nothing on its own. It will not suffer if it doesn't get what it wants. But if you want to make the transition from the old religion, where you hope God will give you an afterlife, to the new religion, where you hope to become immortal by getting uploaded into a computer, then you have to believe information is real and alive. So for you, it will be important to redesign human institutions like art, the economy, and the law to reinforce the perception that information is alive. You demand that the rest of us live in your new conception of a state religion. You need us to deify information to reinforce your faith. ↗

— Jaron Lanier

#information #internet #singularity #technology #art

To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, singular power of self-respect. ↗

— Joan Didion

#back #expectations #free #give #great

Why can't you summon a command line and search your real-world home for 'Honda car keys,' and specify rooms in your house to search instead of folders or paths in your computer's home directory? It's a crippling design flaw in the real-world interface. ↗

— Richard Dooling

#singularity #the-singularity #design

Seduction is always more singular and sublime than sex and it commands the higher price. ↗

— Jean Baudrillard

#commands #higher #more #price #seduction

The total absence of humor from the Bible is one of the most singular things in all literature. ↗

— Alfred North Whitehead

#bible #humor #literature #most #singular

During this time I had the singular good fortune of being able to discuss the problem constantly with Einstein. Some experiments done at Einstein's suggestion yielded no decisively new result. ↗

— Walther Bothe

#being #constantly #decisively #discuss #done

Another symptom of progress toward the Singularity: ideas themselves should spread ever faster, and even the most radical will quickly become commonplace. ↗

— Vernor Vinge

#become #commonplace #even #ever #faster

If you asked somebody, 'what do you wish for in life?' they wouldn't say 'happiness.' I would have answered 'excitement, knowledge,' God knows - I mean, many, many different things, but certainly not 'happiness'. It seemed like a foreign concept to wish for something that specific and that singular. ↗

— Connie Nielsen

#asked #certainly #concept #different #different things