Quarantine (Subjective Cosmology, #1)
by
by
Mods, Moods, and Modes
To measure something is to change it, to cause it to become fixed by eliminating its infinite possibilities. This is a well-established principle of quantum mechanics. If that is true, human beings have much more to answer for than we thought. As our techniques of measurement have become more refined and better able to reach further into the far reaches of the cosmos, we have left a path of destruction literally as far as the eye can see.
The really spectacular advances in artificial intelligence in Egan’s world of Quarantine are not the ‘mods’ (apps) of data manipulation, communication, and presentation. Rather they are those which can control our basic moods - alertness, rationality, even our loyalties. There are experimental mods which are so advanced that they can alter our very mode of being. This is the real import of AI - not how it mimics human consciousness but what it does to human consciousness
Philosophically speaking, human are the thinking creatures. Thinking is what makes us different, possibly unique, from other sentient beings. Thinking is our mode of being and the essential cause of our destructive rampage throughout the universe as we measure, analyze, and judge it. It is what we value above all else - the ability to value at all - and what we are ‘hard-wired’ to pursue. But by thinking we are reducing the complexity of everything we think about. Through the quantum effects of reflective thought the universe becomes a less diverse entity. We are literally dumbing it down as we learn about it.
But suppose there were a mod which could effectively re-wire our brains, by-passing the normal neural processes that involve quantum effects. Perhaps we could then avoid the adverse consequences of thought. We could stop being in a state of permanent warfare with the rest of physical creation. Would such a leap represent a scientific breakthrough or an apocalyptic spiritual, moral and physical disaster?
Eagan is a genius. It is very possible only he knows the answer.
Postscript on Corporate Sociology
Quarantine is densely packed with speculative technological ideas and their consequences. But it also contains an important thread about human organization which is highly insightful in its own right. This is the issue of corporate structure and is implications for human behaviour.
The protagonist Nick is forcibly recruited to an entity called The Ensemble. A mod is inserted in his brain which ensures that he will be totally loyal to the interests of The Ensemble. He is aware of this but he is also aware that he can do nothing about this enforced loyalty except to go mad. The interests of The Ensemble are essentially his own interests.
However during the course of his duties Nick discovers that there are factions within the group that runs The Ensemble. This group, called the Canon, is composed of people who have not been implanted with the loyalty mod; and they have different views about what their interests and those of The Ensemble are.
One of his similarly loyal colleagues makes the point to him that only those who have the loyalty mod are actually qualified to judge what the interest of The Ensemble really are. But even this presents a dilemma because even such loyal and altruistic corporate citizens have different views about what the interests of The Ensemble are.
The only method available to resolve this situation is conversation. In this conversation, the views of each loyal participant must be accepted in their entirety and without compromise. These views are then used as the way to find the wider purpose in which the diverse views fit as special cases. The loyalty mod does not relieve Nick of the obligation to make judgments of value; it insists upon these judgments.
This is a profound vision of corporate organization. What Egan has demonstrated is that loyalty to a corporate entity does not mean abandoning one’s individual values. Rather, the identification of the corporate interests, of joint purpose, depends crucially on the preservation and transformation of those individual values. The idea is remarkably close to that of ‘loyalty to loyalty’ by the American philosopher, Josiah Royce: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... This theme alone would make Quarantine a masterpiece of sociological thought.
To measure something is to change it, to cause it to become fixed by eliminating its infinite possibilities. This is a well-established principle of quantum mechanics. If that is true, human beings have much more to answer for than we thought. As our techniques of measurement have become more refined and better able to reach further into the far reaches of the cosmos, we have left a path of destruction literally as far as the eye can see.
The really spectacular advances in artificial intelligence in Egan’s world of Quarantine are not the ‘mods’ (apps) of data manipulation, communication, and presentation. Rather they are those which can control our basic moods - alertness, rationality, even our loyalties. There are experimental mods which are so advanced that they can alter our very mode of being. This is the real import of AI - not how it mimics human consciousness but what it does to human consciousness
Philosophically speaking, human are the thinking creatures. Thinking is what makes us different, possibly unique, from other sentient beings. Thinking is our mode of being and the essential cause of our destructive rampage throughout the universe as we measure, analyze, and judge it. It is what we value above all else - the ability to value at all - and what we are ‘hard-wired’ to pursue. But by thinking we are reducing the complexity of everything we think about. Through the quantum effects of reflective thought the universe becomes a less diverse entity. We are literally dumbing it down as we learn about it.
But suppose there were a mod which could effectively re-wire our brains, by-passing the normal neural processes that involve quantum effects. Perhaps we could then avoid the adverse consequences of thought. We could stop being in a state of permanent warfare with the rest of physical creation. Would such a leap represent a scientific breakthrough or an apocalyptic spiritual, moral and physical disaster?
Eagan is a genius. It is very possible only he knows the answer.
Postscript on Corporate Sociology
Quarantine is densely packed with speculative technological ideas and their consequences. But it also contains an important thread about human organization which is highly insightful in its own right. This is the issue of corporate structure and is implications for human behaviour.
The protagonist Nick is forcibly recruited to an entity called The Ensemble. A mod is inserted in his brain which ensures that he will be totally loyal to the interests of The Ensemble. He is aware of this but he is also aware that he can do nothing about this enforced loyalty except to go mad. The interests of The Ensemble are essentially his own interests.
However during the course of his duties Nick discovers that there are factions within the group that runs The Ensemble. This group, called the Canon, is composed of people who have not been implanted with the loyalty mod; and they have different views about what their interests and those of The Ensemble are.
One of his similarly loyal colleagues makes the point to him that only those who have the loyalty mod are actually qualified to judge what the interest of The Ensemble really are. But even this presents a dilemma because even such loyal and altruistic corporate citizens have different views about what the interests of The Ensemble are.
The only method available to resolve this situation is conversation. In this conversation, the views of each loyal participant must be accepted in their entirety and without compromise. These views are then used as the way to find the wider purpose in which the diverse views fit as special cases. The loyalty mod does not relieve Nick of the obligation to make judgments of value; it insists upon these judgments.
This is a profound vision of corporate organization. What Egan has demonstrated is that loyalty to a corporate entity does not mean abandoning one’s individual values. Rather, the identification of the corporate interests, of joint purpose, depends crucially on the preservation and transformation of those individual values. The idea is remarkably close to that of ‘loyalty to loyalty’ by the American philosopher, Josiah Royce: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... This theme alone would make Quarantine a masterpiece of sociological thought.
posted by The Mind of BlackOxford @ February 11, 2019
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