Notes for the Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul, by Rudy Rucker
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Notes for The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul, by Rudy Rucker Notes for The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul by Rudy Rucker Copyright (C) Rudy Rucker, 2005. Notes started September, 17, 2002, in Brussels. Goal: Write everything I’ve learned and thought about computers. 62,183 words. Last Update September 19, 2005 [Notes edited for web distribution September, 19, 2005] Word Count................................................................................................................... 8 January 27, 2004. .................................................................................................. 8 April 21, 2004. ...................................................................................................... 8 Lengths of recent books........................................................................................ 8 Chapter Length Computation in Geneva, July 22, 2004....................................... 8 Chapter Length Computation in Los Gatos, August 13, 2004.............................. 9 Chapter Length Computation Sept 14, 2004......................................................... 9 Contents ........................................................................................................................9 Current Contents ....................................................................................................... 9 Older Versions of the Contents............................................................................... 10 November, 2003.................................................................................................. 10 Original Proposal Contents, September, 2003.................................................... 10 Selling Proposal (Frozen as of August 11, 2003) ....................................................... 12 Publishing Details ................................................................................................... 14 About the Author .................................................................................................... 14 Chapter Notes.............................................................................................................. 16 Chapter 1: Computation Everywhere...................................................................... 16 What is a Computation?...................................................................................... 16 Personal Computers ............................................................................................ 16 Chapter 2: Physics................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 3: Life ........................................................................................................ 16 Artificial life........................................................................................................ 16 Chapter 4: The Mind............................................................................................... 17 AI ........................................................................................................................ 18 The fractal of human memory............................................................................. 19 The aesthetics of gnarl. ....................................................................................... 19 The quantum Mind.............................................................................................. 19 Chapter 5: The Human Hive................................................................................... 21 Chapter Five Contents......................................................................................... 21 p. 1 Notes for The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul, by Rudy Rucker 5.1: Living With People..................................................................................... 21 5.2: Language..................................................................................................... 21 5.3: Culture ......................................................................................................... 21 5.4: The Group Mind. ......................................................................................... 22 5.5: Computation as Historical Force ................................................................. 23 Chapter 6: Universal Automatism .......................................................................... 23 Chapter 6 Contents.............................................................................................. 23 Eight Digital Philosophies .................................................................................. 23 Hard and easy, exponential time......................................................................... 24 Monisms and Pluralism....................................................................................... 24 Stephen Wolfram’s four classes of computation. ............................................... 25 Intrinsic Randomness.......................................................................................... 25 The Principle of Computational Equivalence..................................................... 25 Explorations ............................................................................................................ 26 Exploration 1: What am I?.................................................................................. 26 Exploration 2: Merging into the computation..................................................... 26 Exploration 3: Debugging your mind. ................................................................ 26 Exploration 4: Tracking your moods. ................................................................. 26 Exploration 5: The many yous............................................................................ 26 Exploration 6: Winning the meme wars. ............................................................ 27 Exploration 7: Being superhuman. ..................................................................... 27 Exploration 8: Living the web. ........................................................................... 27 Exploration 9: Between your thoughts. .............................................................. 27 Thought Experiments.............................................................................................. 28 Thought Experiment 1: “Lucky Number” .......................................................... 28 Thought Experiment 2: “The Million Chakras” ................................................. 28 Thought Experiment 3A: “Teeming”.................................................................. 28 Thought Experiment 4: “Tucker’s Talker”......................................................... 28 Thought Experiment 5: “The Kind Rain”........................................................... 28 Thought Experiment 5A: “URL All Over”......................................................... 28 Thought Experiment 6 “Hello Infinity”.............................................................. 29 Thought Experiment 6A: “The Next Big Thing” ............................................... 29 Thought Experiment 6B: “The Best Show Ever”............................................... 29 Titles ........................................................................................................................... 29 Computation and Reality .................................................................................... 29 Beyond Computers.............................................................................................. 30 Wild Hairs........................................................................................................... 31 Short List of Chapters, January, 2004................................................................. 31 Fragments to Use ........................................................................................................ 32 Communication Via Computer........................................................................... 32 John Walker on Sociology and NKS .................................................................. 32 Sylvia’s Poem for my 39th Birthday .................................................................. 32 Unused Knot ....................................................................................................... 32 Scale-Free ........................................................................................................... 33 Colloquial Meanings of Gnarly .......................................................................... 33 The Web Mind Shtick from my Galaxy Columns.................................................. 33 p. 2 Notes for The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul, by Rudy Rucker Loose Ends Not Done ................................................................................................. 38 Chap 1 ................................................................................................................. 38 Chap 2 ................................................................................................................. 38 Chap 3 ................................................................................................................. 38 Chap 4 ................................................................................................................. 39 Chap 6 ................................................................................................................. 39 Research.............................................................................................................