When it comes to alien intelligence, there’s what U of Connecticut philosophy professor Susan Schneider calls the “short window observation” — the notion that, by the time any society learns to transmit radio signals, they’re probably a hop-skip away from upgrading their own biology. It’s a twist on the belief popularized by Ray Kurzweil that humanity’s own post-biological future is near at hand. “As soon as a civilization invents radio, they’re within fifty years of computers, then, probably, only another fifty to a hundred years from inventing AI,” says Seth Shostak, director of NASA’s SETI program. “At that point, soft, squishy brains become an outdated model.”
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 11:21:48 +0000
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