Gudrun: I am an artist who is interested in science, in utopia and seemingly
impossible
projects. I also came across a lot of artists with OC traits. ...
The OCAP, actually the obsessive compulsive 'arctificial' project ..
These new OCA entities ... are afraid, and bound to rituals and unwant
ed thoughts (and actions).
Some odd thoughts:
I'd wondered whether you might be interested in the reality rather than the
science-fiction - of the connection between OCD and real scientists and
technologists. Ben's article arguably raises interesting questions about
their psychology generally and not just that of Extropians, (and has the
elements, if not the story, for a good movie).
(BTW after his highlighting of one Extropian sucide, up comes an article on
two suicides closer to AI home - those of Singh & McKinstry (both
Minsky-related!):
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-02/ff_aimystery?currentPage=all
with a note that: "MIT has attracted headlines for its high suicide rate in
the past," )
The connection between the scientific, systemising personality and autism -
the ultimate in an obsessive need to control and also in a rejection of
humanity - has obviously been expounded by Sacha Baron-Cohen :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4661402.stm
And you don't say, but aren't artists - whatever their philosophical
position - fundamentally opposed to science's current worldview? Science
still sees human beings as automata in an automatic process - fundamentally
totally controlled, - (and v. few AI-ers disagree) - while the arts see
us, in the shape of a million or so dramatic works, as heroes in a heroic
drama - fundamentally unpredictable and suspenseful. (Even robots in the
arts tend to be more or less heroic).
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