Feedback To Nova Origins
2005.09.06.Tuesday - Thoughts after watching Nova Origins
One thing to consider when thinking about; life, consciousness, and intelligence is to consider emergent properties of complex systems.
My observation is that it may turn out to be the case that all 'sufficiently complex' systems will 'self organize' (or exhibit emergent behaviors) that in turn cause to come into existence self replicating systems, like the carbon based life we find. Then given such a sufficiently complex 'life-like' system consciousness will arise (or emerge) and with it intelligence.
I think it could very well be the case that we will find 'first-contact' with alien life/consciousness/intelligence in a completely different venue than the carbon based double helix type life we find here on earth.
I think that it may be the case that all sufficiently complex systems that have some sort of 'feedback-system' will exhibit self organization and that self organization will eventually lead to consciousness and then to intelligence.
If this is so then our challenge then becomes to just look in the right places with the right filter to find it.
It may even be the case that we wind up 'inventing' the first contact in our quest to create Artificial Intelligence.
The point here is that just restricting ourselves to carbon based DNA based life may be way too selective. The universe may be teaming with alternate forms of life, consciousness, and intelligence.
