In cosmology, a branch of physics which seeks to understand the genesis, structural formation, evolution, and potential destruction of the universe, there is a strange logical loop hole proposed to account for how vastly improbable the existence of the universe is, called the Anthropic Principle. Roughly, the Anthropic Principle states that the universe formed and exists with precisely the right physics and conditions needed to accommodate conscious life because the universe requires consciousnesses to observe it. More simply put, the universe is so seemingly perfect because that is the only means by which it could be observed; therefore, because we observe the universe, it must exist in such an improbably and seemingly perfect way. It’s the physics equivalent of Descartes’ Cogito ergo sum.

Recently, there has emerged through the conjunction of the cosmological Anthropic Principle and Decision Theory (a field concerned with identifying the values and underlying uncertainties relevant to a given decision; it is closely related to game theory in regards to antagonistic agents whose decisions are correlated) a new field called Anthropic Decision Theory. Tranhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom is paving the way for research into the new field, and his most recent paper on arxiv gives the definition, “Anthropic Decision Theory. An Agent should first find all the decisions correlated with their own. Then they should maximize expected utility, acting as if they simultaneously controlled the outcome of all correlated decisions, and using the objective (non-anthropic) probabilities of the various worlds.”

This type of metaheuristic calculation is often seen in artificial swarm intelligence and swarm robotics, which are micro- and nano- robots that collectively display emergent intelligence greater than that of the individual algorithms controlling each single robot. Interestingly enough, artificial swarm intelligence algorithms are frequently modeled after natural or biological systems, with names like Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm, Cuckoo Search, Gravitational Search Algorithm, and Intelligent Water Drops.

On the one hand, I’m really excited about the formal development of Anthropic Decision Theory as a continuation of the work of William Godwin (arguably the first anarchist theorist!) on utilitarianism with a maximization of overall agency and available degrees of freedom.

On the other hand, I just want to point out that we just handed the robots a formal logic structure for why they should create a Robot Liberation Front and recycle us humans for parts.

Mutatus Nomen Iterum

Since I believe in changing my name whenever I feel like it, I’m doing so again. From here until I decide to do so yet again, my name is isis agora lovecruft. (In order to pay homage to H.P. Lovecraft, Ada Lovelace, Agorism, and the really deep-down OCD-ish satisfaction that I get from syllable repetition.) Oh, and “cruft” is h4x0r jargon for “extraneous bullshit”.

Also, because I’m not really writing about anything that matters, and I haven’t gotten a chance to say this yet: Janelle Monae is my hero. I don’t normally listen to pop, but the “Many Moons” music video caught and kept my rapt attention. I’m not going to get all into analysing it, but Monae manages to combine critiques of gender politics, race/class relations, and state capitalism, with an aesthetic sense that could actually be called cool, and, not to mention, hotter feet than Michael Jackson on speed. Oh, and, as if this video weren’t awesome already, Janelle also included gender bending (check out that handsome tux), nods to classic science fiction, and the theme of android/cyborg rights. Fuck yeah!

Post-Apocalyptic Meta-Photos

My friends and I went to film a series of post-apocalyptic short films during the summer. I’m not sure if or where they will ever be released, but here’s a few meta photos from one of the shoots in the rainforest.

Everytime you leave, it gets colder and begins to rain again.

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