The Lucid Dreamer

I've already read a little bit of The Lucid Dreamer, but I'm really excited about reading the whole thing. It's full of really interesting information about how the brain dreams. What I'm most interested in is distinguishing the difference between the dream world(s) and reality. Is this world just as much a construct of our imaginations as our dreams are? What makes us sense dreams, and why are some senses more accute than others? What facets of the brain affect how we view "reality"?

Starting "On Intelligence"

Well, On Intelligence arrived and I've started reading it. It's not as well-written as The Singularity is Near--not as urgently. But I can tell it's going to be interesting. I want to know if there's any hope for technology expanding humans' consciousness and intelligence. Unless it does this, it's only going to weaken our species (the Singularity scenario seems to partly make up for technology's backfalls by taking our bodies out of the equation and making us super-smart). Unless technology is going to benefit humans and not just surround us, it's not worth it. Please tell me what you think: will it be good for technology to expand our minds vastly (if you're like me and you automatically set up tent in the "technology is bad" camp, try to get rid of that prior notion to answer this question), or will it be destructive to us?

Is higher intelligence better?

I'm writing this on Monday instead of on Friday, but anyway:

I was against the Singularity before I found out what it was. I still believe technology has done much more harm for our species than good (I don't think this point is really up for debate. Just ask a biologist whether technology has advanced or hindered our evolution, health, and happiness. For those last two you'd have to turn to an anthropologist, and from what I've read it looks as though we are just starting to catch up, lifespan-wise, to "primitive" peoples. Indian chiefs and warriors in the 1800s and 1900s--famous Native Americans for whom we have birth and death dates--lived into their eighties and nineties while, according to Ray Kurzweil at least, the civilized European-Americans were benefiting form the aid of period technology and dying at 45. The Kwaaymii Indians of the Laguna Mountains, in our own back yard, considered "old" to be in their eighties, and some lived into their hundreds--according to their last living member at least. As for the happiness question, no one can tell us for sure. Surely primitive cultures had a higher infant death rate [which actually would help control the population and contribute to evolution] and they probably had to labor for long hours for survival purposes. But who today can say they don't spend their lives working? More important for me is that universally, aboriginal people had such a deep, incomprehensible connection with the earth, almost like they were part of a giant organism or something. Many Native Americans called it "the Great Mystery.") But now that I know the Singularity's all about becoming extremely intelligent, I can't really argue against that. Intelligence is good, although I disagree with all the other implications of the Singularity, like living in a virtual reality, being at the mercy of nanobots (which might be controlled by a government--too much power if you ask me), and devaluing death. The way we got to our current level of intelligence is that it just happened. Different parts of our brains control different functions, like sight, euphoria, curiosity, etc. How can the scientists and machines creatively invent new functions? I'm also curious how something so positive could spring from several thousand years of civilization and technology--something so negative.

Consciousness

I'm beginning to think that, once again, technology promises us what we already have. I used to be opposed to the Singularity because nature is so much better than better living through chemistry. However, apparently one of the predictions Kurzweil makes is that technology will infinitely expand our minds, bringing us beyond our current level of intelligence, and wake up the "dumb" universe, giving everything intelligence and consciousness.

There's nothing to object to there. More intelligence is not a bad thing; no good can come from staying in the dark intentionally. There are no unsolvable problems, only lower levels of intelligence. Intelligence is great. But I think this all may be already accessible. The Lucid Dreamer goes on an on about how problems and situations that dumbfounded people in their daily lives were easy to solve in the dream world. Astral projectionists and lucid dreamers, as well as people who are skilled at meditating, speak of a "third eye" which actually corresponds to the pineal gland in the brain, and of going beyond their physical bodies to explore the mysteries of the universe and other dimensions, unimaginable in this realm.

Modern-day "shamans" and proponents of the drug DMT say that by using DMT, which also occurs naturally in our metabolic system, you can tap into nature's consciousness. If the universe has a consciousness and we're all a part of it, that's pretty cool. If we can access naturally these greater intelligences, the negative side of the Singularity doesn't seem worth it.

Stories

Why do we need stories? Think of your favorite story--a book, a movie, or just a general unwritten story--and it gives you a certain feeling, right? Every human society ever has told stories and revered them. They lend us the feeling of other worlds. I don't even know what they do, but there's something built into us that says we need stories. Was this a survival technique? The people who told and heard and enjoyed stories survived to pass on their genes? The best stories, especially long stories with lots of character development, make us feel a very special way. So maybe this will help those who tell and love stories survive longer and become stronger. Stories are our creations, or maybe they are how we interpret the world around us.

Number 10

1. "Most Beautiful Work Award" - I am most proud of my tragedy essay. I put a lot of work into organizing it right and making sure my ideas got out in the essay. I've always been afraid that my writing will be confusing in its order and organization (because when I start off I spill all my ideas out), but after this essay I've learned to trust myself to wisely organize an essay or other piece of writing. I also like the ideas I came up with in the essay about how the definition of tragedy changes with the times (the Greeks loved their rulers, so it was tragic when rulers were revealed to be flawed; we hate politicians nowadays [unless they're truly beneficient to the people], so our focus lies on what happens to the everyday commoner).

2. "Lesson Learned" - One particular pointer I've found helpful is to pad quotes with explanation. I've started to notice that it's really helpful when reporters do this in articles, even if they comppletely repeat the point that was made in the quote. I've started doing this in my writing, too. I feel I've also gotten better at analyzing writing for a specific point--like in our inquiry projects. Although it can detract from the simple joy of reading, searching text for answers to a question can also add a lot of depth to the reading experience.

3. "Lessons I'd Like to Learn" - To feel ready for college, I'd like to go deeper into analyzing writing. It would be interesting to discuss quotes from the "great minds" of the past couple thousand years, sort of like what we did with Socrates.
I don't know if this is part of the senior curriculum, but I would love to do some creative writing. I think we all have ideas that are waiting to turn into an awesome story.

High Tech High is named High Tech High for a reason. The founding fathers wanted us to employ technology in our learning adventures. In our everyday lives, is technology employing us?

Michael Pollan, in his book The Botany of Desire, poses the question: We have developed crops like corn and potatoes well beyond their original potential. Now that corn has grown out of its grubby, near-death shrub-like form it started out as, and potatoes have undergone a similar journey, we must ask ourselves: who has used whom?

It almost seems like technology is evolving, very quickly, through us. Heck, if at the beginning of our evolution, if we had wanted to evolve more quickly, we couldn't have done better than to have someone else use us.