The measure of intelligence
Take a brain or any information processor, input information (knowledge), check the conclusions (output). The conclusions it reaches is a reflection of the quality of the processor. The information went in, was processed and conclusions were reached. These conclusions tell us about the quality of the processing. This is the essence of intelligence. A brain that has processed the information available to it in a modern civilization and comes to the conclusions that there is a personal, all knowing, all powerful and loving god behind the universe is inferior to a brain that comes to atheistic conclusions.

The question of dolphin intelligence
Trapped in Plato's cave
If dolphins had an intelligence anywhere near ours, surely it would be hell, stuck in a kind of Plato's cave, with no hands to construct things, no tools, no telescopes, no microscopes, no ability to research and experiment with reality, no ability to explore the nature of reality, and consequently not knowing about the universe, atoms, etc.
Would a super intelligence be able to work it all out purely by thinking? Deduce the fact of atoms and valence bonding, molecules, evolution, genes, cells, neurons and synapses, the universe, the big bang, black holes, E=MC squared, etc?

All is not knowable
I believe the universe is finite and therefore knowledge is finite, but all knowledge is not knowable because it would take a structure with more atoms than there are in the universe just to know the position of every atom in the universe. And then of course there is the Heisenberg uncertainty principle which states that it is not just practically, but fundamentally impossible to accurately know both the position and momentum of a particle.

Because human intelligence is limited there is probably knowledge that is beyond the scope (understanding) of even the best human brains.

Reason, instinct and intelligence
Rational reason is a sign of intelligence.
One of the factors that is supposed to distinguish man from other animals is the ability to reason. Instincts are genetically inherited programs, i.e. behavior patters shaped by natural selection. A spider builds its web on instinct. Even though a spiders' web is a fairly complex structure, a spider cannot be described as intelligent. Instinctual behavior cannot be described as intelligent. Whenever there is a conflict between reason and instinct, reason should override instinct. By behaving instinctually humans reduce themselves to the level of lower life forms. Territoriality and tribalism are primitive instincts that nowadays manifest themselves as nationalism and patriotism and which are often the root causes of wars. Emotions are instinctual. Breeding is instinctual.

PSYCHOLOGY AND PROGRAMS

I am a sum of programs.
You are born with a few basic, core genetic programs like heart beat, breath, suck nipple, cry, basic movements etc. The way the brain is structured enables it to write and update its own programs. These are learned programs. Most motor function programs are learned programs.
The other day I injured my wrist and had to brush my teeth with my left hand, which led to the realization that I do not have a 'brush my teeth with my left hand' program. This would be a waste of valuable brainspace. Of course this also applies to a myriad of other motor functions like handwriting etc.
Some programs are inherited, some are formed by experience, a few are latent and need to be triggered.
Most psychological problems are caused by faulty programs. A small fault can cause a program to get stuck in a loop resulting in an obsessive compulsive disorder. (O.C.D.)
A child molester might have a faulty sex program, a psychopath has a latent override his/her conscience program that is triggered by lack of affection in his/her childhood.
Addiction is a program similar to the thirst program. Frequent ingestion of the drug causes a chemical dependence which results in the writing of an irresistible desire ( addiction ) program.

Speech
Probably the biggest and most complex program is the speech program. Most of our thinking is done in a language. If you could map a dissected brain you would probably be able to tell by the wiring pattern what language that person spoke (and many other character traits for example if that person was fascist or liberal, theist or atheist.)
The visual program is probably the next largest and complex program.

Memes and Brain viruses (some info on memes) (more info on memes)
A brain virus is a meme complex that has it own self replicating instructions and has a detrimental effect on brain performance, much like a computer virus has its' own self replicating instructions and has an negative effect on computer performance. Religion is a type of brain virus, it reduces the performance of the brain.
People who do not believe in evolution are suffering from religious virus brain damage. (for an example of R.V. brain damage check out the creation science. website) The Inquisitions are another classic example of the ill effects of a religious brain virus. It caused mass superstition and paranoia resulting in the gruesome murder of millions of people. Traditions are brain viruses. An example of the ill effects of a tradition virus is the brutal removal of millions of women's clitoris in northern Africa and the Middle East.

Some differences between a computer and a brain.
Obviously the most noticeable difference between human thinking and computer information processing is human consciousness, awareness of self, awareness of ones thoughts.
Structural differences
In a computer there is a clear distinction between hardware and software. Microchip wiring is fixed. Programs are stored in the hard drive.
In the brain on the other hand the wiring is flexible and constantly changing. Experiences actually change the wiring patterns of the brain. Programs are in the wiring pattern (neural networks). Brains write, install and update their own programs.

Dreams
The organic equivalent of defrag?
The sorting and refiling of short term memories into long term memories.
I believe that we have some sort of sense extrapolation program. If you are woken during this refiling process, these often unconnected memories pop into your consciousness, this is when the sense extrapolation application kicks in and concocts a story that more or less makes sense out of these unconnected memories.

MEMORY
Memory is the most important function of thinking. When thinking about what a thought is, think first about what memory is. What is a memory? It has to be a stored pattern. It occupies space.
Without memory, thinking cannot take place. Conception requires memory. Because we do not receive information in whole pictures instantaneously, but rather in a steady stream through time, the beginning needs to be remembered in order to conceive the whole picture. This is a very short term memory function. Without this ultra short term memory a word would vanish the instant you received it and you could not link it to the next word. This even applies to the syllables of a word.

Memory can be divided into 4 basic functions.
1. The reception. (receiving the information)
2. The placing into storage of the information and maybe some kind of address function, but then you would need to remember the address and that would also require an address and so on ad infinitum . Memories are interlinked so one memory can trigger another. The number of links each memory has to other memories is probably high enough that each memory is only a couple of links away from every other memory. This system doesn't require addressing, thus doing away with that type of filing system. This system also has self organizing properties, the more we use a memory the more linked it becomes the easier and quicker it is to retrieve. Links fade over time, recalling reinforces the links, thus little used less important for our day to day functioning, memories fade away, making space for new more usefull memories. This process is not intellectually controlled, so we trend to store a lot of trivial stuff and lose intellectually important, but not often used stuff.
3. The actual storage.
Computers store memory in a one dimentional binary stream whereas organic memories store the information as three dimentional patterns.
4. The recalling from storage.
Any one or more of these can malfunction.

I know what the word 'word' means. I know what the word 'means' means. The word 'memory' is stored in my memory. When speaking a sentence every word has to be recalled from memory. How does your brain know where to search for that word considering that it does not know the word until it finds the word?

Cry wolf (only an idiot completely trusts his memory)
Not only have I completely forgotten important things, or my memory has completely distorted things but I have remembered things that never actually happened.
You can read something and the memory can slowly fade from consciousness but still be floating around only to pop up later to be perceived as an original thought.

Duplication?
Maybe some or most of our memories are stored at various locations. (many copies) These parallel memories would reinforce each other and it would speed up recall. A malfunction is less likely. Maybe every time we recall a memory another copy is made.

Forgetfulness
Because our brains are limited, forgetfulness is a vital brain function. One of the ways we forget is if a memory is not recalled it tends to fade away. The path gets overgrown, the groove fills in. A self organizing system of forgetfulness.
If we remembered every detail of every situation our memories would soon be filled to capacity.

Memory compression
Memory is not like a photograph or a video, we only remember some details of a scene the rest is approximately filled in on recall.

No wasted space
It is often stated (usually by mystics) that we use only 10% of our brain capacity. Maybe only 10% is used for conscious thinking but the rest does certainly not lie idle. As a thought experiment think about removing 90% of the brain, any 90% in as little sections as desired, right down to individual neurons. Do you really think this would not affect the performance of the brain? Why would our brains have evolved to their present size if only 10% was used? A lot of brain space and energy is used up on our senses and related skills like speaking. A complex thought can be transferred into a complex pattern of pressure waves (sound) that you can pick up with your vibration sensors (ears) and decipher. This is obviously a very complicated operation needing a lot of neurons. A sound wave has a frequency and an amplitude. A particular sound like a word or a dog barking will have a pattern of changing frequencies and amplitudes. Every sound we recognize is stored in our memories as a pattern of changing frequencies and amplitudes. Not only do we recognize probably millions of sounds but we can make our own sounds. So the sound and the instructions to manipulate our voice boxes to reproduce that sound have to be stored, and stored in such a manner that they can be almost instantly recalled. Obviously a lot of brain space is used.
Imagine a Martian scientist observing Homo Sapiens having a discussion. (It could be about the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics, black holes, point singularities, infinity etc., or it could about the weather ) He would detect complex sonic vibrations coming from their mouths. Their thoughts are being converted into sound waves. To know what is going on he would have to decode those vibrations. A very complex task.
Seeing, (converting a certain spectrum of electromagnetic waves into colour) also requires the use of probably billions of neurons.
Every colour, shape, object, substance, landscape etc., that we recognize is stored in our brains. Again a massive amount of brain space.

THOUGHTS ON LIFE
"Life results from the nonrandom survival of randomly varying replicators" Quote from Richard Dawkins, ( a prime example of a high quality organic thinking machine.)
"Life is a cancer of matter." Quote from I don't know who.
Life, we take in raw materials, give of waste products and spread our genes.

Have a nice day!
Life is a losing struggle against entropy and atrophy. Atrophy is biological entropy. We always lose. The future is death. Death comes in two ways, slowly increasing atrophy (disease and senility) until you are so atrophied that you stop functioning, or sudden drastic atrophy normally caused by external circumstances like a car crash. Keeping fit is a battle against atrophy. Humans start atrophying after about twenty five years but the signs really become noticeable at about thirty five to forty years. If you look in the mirror and see that your skin is wrinkling, you know that it is deteriorating and so are all your other organs including your brain.

Death (been there done that!
I don't understand what all the mystery surrounding death is about.
I did not exist before I was born, and I won't exist after I die. The two states are the same. I have been dead for + - thirteen billion years. I know what it is like to be dead.
Life! You don't exist, then you exist, then you don't exist.

Evolution stinks ("Mother Nature is a whore." Curt Corbain)
The mess that the world is in with war, genocide, torture, military spending, greed, corruption, hunger, starvation, disease, insanity, genetical deformities, rape, over population, pollution, poverty or even the meaningless 'live to work' life of a 9 to 5 existence, is all a consequence of evolution. Unfortunately this is the only way it could be, life has to be a struggle. The struggle is the evolutionary pressure. The system of evolution stinks, but without it there would be no life, no intelligence, no consciousness and the universe would not be aware of its existence.
I don't blame individuals for the horrific deeds that they commit, I blame nature.

Stage two evolution
Up till now evolution has been a process of random mutations subject to blind natural selection. A non-intelligent system which required flukes (the rare random mutations that actually improve the chances of survival) to progress. Billions of years and millions of flukes have resulted in an intelligence high enough to actually consciously/intelligently influence evolution.
Second stage evolution is evolution with intelligence behind it. Technological development is second stage evolution. It is much faster than first stage, survival of the fittest, blind natural selection evolution. Just look at the current pace of computer development.

Genetical engineering could vastly improve Homo Sapiens intelligence, but in the end I believe non organic intelligence will prove to be superior because it can evolve far quicker (no generations) and it has the ability of adding on to, and/or improving its current systems. It is far more precise and reliable, and it is not so sensitive to the environment.
Microchips have many advantages over organic circuitry; there is no disease, no death and no suffering. Intelligence will be able to function in much harsher environments; no food or air is needed, a much wider operating temperature range, a much longer life span. (Speed will not be so important when exploring the universe. It could switch of for millions of years.)
In the big picture the preservation of Homo Sapiens is not significant. The preservation of intelligence is, no matter what form it is.
One should see life and man as merely a stepping stone in the evolution of intelligence.

True AI
When a computer asked "What am I? Where do I come from?"
I believe that computers that are self aware are just around the corner.

Love
As life got more and more complex so the gestation period got longer and more debilitating. It also took longer for the offspring to become self sufficient. In this period of vulnerability, the chances of survival were greatly increased if the male hung around. A coupling mechanism evolved. In Homo Sapiens consciousness this mechanism is called love. Love is a behavior pattern that has evolved (mutation and natural selection) . It is chemically activated. Love is the glue that keeps a couple together thereby vastly improving their offspring's chances of survival. Non loving pre-humans died out.
Love is a genetically evolved, chemically activated brain state, that leads to behaviour that increases the survival rate of the offspring of higher order mammals.

On Morals
The core of morals should lie in liking oneself. If you don't like certain behaviors in other people you cannot behave like that, if your are going to like yourself. I dislike liars, cheats, thieves, rapists, murderers, etc. therefore I cannot be a liar, etc. myself. If you don't like hypocrites then you must not be one yourself.
Any behavior that does no harm to others is not immoral.

Parenting
The only rational reason to have children is if you find life to be so absolutely fantastic that you want to create more of it.
Can you guaranty that your future child will be happy? Nothing is a bigger waste of time than rearing children who grow up to be unhappy. The last thing this planet needs is more messed up people.
Most messed up children are caused by messed up parents.
It seems to me that the root cause of most of the psychologically messed up people on this planet is defective bond syndrome. Defective bond syndrome needs to be made more prominent in the collective consciousness of society. Any future parents need to know about this syndrome, the causes, the symptoms and the long term effects.

Mother you had me I never had you.
You decide to have a child, a child does not decide to be born, this makes you 100% responsible for that child's well being. Parents who think that their children owe them because they had them and provided for them, shouldn't have had children. If you don't consider the child's needs before your own, you shouldn't have had children. A parents first priority should be the happiness of their child, if they don't consider their childs happiness before their own, they should not have had children. Children do not owe their parents anything, parents decide to have children, children don't decide to be born.

Breeding
Breeding is a primitive instinct.
Planet Earth is not only going to experience overpopulation in the future, it is overpopulated now. Symptoms of overpopulation are mass starvation, wars, deforestation, pollution, acid rain, the hole in the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, soil erosion, squatter slums, rampant crime, stress, etc., etc.
Any couple who have more than two children are guilty of compounding a serious problem.
A couple having a child now should realize that when that child reaches fifty there could be up to ten billion people trying to live on this planet. There will be a shortage of resources like land, water, food, clean air, most metals and fuels. Wars will be fought over these resources. Rain forests will have disappeared. There will be catastrophic pollution and poverty.

Genetic greed
There is a instinctual need to spread ones' genes, however because of the overpopulated state of this planet it should be viewed as genetically greedy and morally wrong for a person to have more than one child, i.e. two children per couple.

Genetic suicide (Be the ultimate rebel)
Rebel against nature, rebel against your genes, step above your primitive instincts, commit genetic suicide, don't breed. This planet is already way overpopulated.

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