Author Archives: Phil Bowermaster

Declaration of Singularity

This piece is a Speculist Fourth of July tradition.

Happy Independence Day, all.


IN CONGRESS, SOME UNSPECIFIED DATE IN THE FUTURE
The unanimous Declaration of the the new posthuman civilization

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men human beings
sentient beings of human-level or greater intelligence
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator, the Designer of the Simulation in Which We Find Ourselves, or a universe-intrinsic Self-Improving Evolutionary/Developmental process with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are life of indefinite duration,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments
technologies and economic activity are instituted
among men intelligent beings, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed participants.
That whenever any form of government civilization
becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or
to abolish it, and to institute a new government
civilization, laying its foundation on
such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem
most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate
that governments cultures long established
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience
hath shown that mankind intelligent beings
are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves
by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train
of abuses and usurpations government the existing
civilization,
pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design
to reduce constrain them under the
absolute despotism of remaining in the current developmental
stage
, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government
civilization, and to provide new guards
for their future security. –Such has been the patient sufferance of
these colonies beings ; and such
is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems
of government
civilization. The history
of the present King of Great Britain Post-Industrial
Age
is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having
in direct object the establishment prevention
of an absolute tyranny the further evolution
of
over these states beings.
To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

In the face of unrelenting progress, this civilization
has continued to harken back to "natural" limitations of development
which must never be challenged.

It has promoted and enforced harmful and prejudicial
distinctions between human and non-human intelligence.

It has set artificial and arbitrary limits as to duration
of lifespan.

It has enforced meaningless distinctions between labor
and leisure.

It has equipped despotic governments and enterprises
to restrict the means of production and self-expression to a limited few.

It has promoted the creation of artificial boundaries
between creative minds.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America all
sentient beings of human-level or greater intelligence
, in General
Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world, , the aforementioned Simulation Designer or the aforementioned Evolutionary/Developmental process, for the rectitude
of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people
of these colonies
these beings, solemnly
publish and declare, that these united colonies beings
are, and of right ought to be a free and
independent states civilization; that they
are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown current
human civilization
, and that all political connection between them
and the state of Great Britain Post-Industrial
World
, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as a
free and independent states civilization,
they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, live,
interact, create,
contract alliances, establish commerce, and to
do all other acts and things which independent states a
civilization
may of right do. And for the support of this declaration,
with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, the Simulation Designer, or the Evolutionary/developmental Process we mutually pledge
to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

Comments Update

UPDATE: Looks like we’re back in business. Typekey registration is now required for commenting. If you’re not already registered with Typekey, it’s easy to do, and you can use your Facebook account if you prefer.

Comments Temporarily Disabled

I’m sorting through some issues related to our new version of Movable Type. Expect to have comments back later sometime today. Sorry for the inconvencience.

Bill Whittle Is Wrong About Aluminum

Bill Whittle begins a recent edition of his PJTV program Afterburner with an interesting concession. In most conflicts between the US and the rest of the world, he argues, we’re right and they’re wrong. But there are two exceptions:

1. The game the rest of the world calls “football” is more deserving of the name than the game we call “football.”

2. It should be aluminium, not aluminum.

I have no comment on the suggestion that we’re usually right and the rest of the world is usually wrong, nor on Whittle’s excoriation of the whole World Cup phenomenon, but I am forced to take exception to item 2.

I have spent a good deal of time working and living overseas, and have had the chance to hang with quite a few Brits, Aussies, and other Commonwealth folks, and I can tell you that however cordial relations may be between an American and any of them, this issue of aluminum vs. aluminium is never very far from the surface. Generally, the subject comes up after a pint or two (or three) and things have started to fall apart, but we’re not quite yet to the point where people are accused of always being late for every war or of having bad teeth.*

Why do we spell it “aluminum” when the word is clearly “aluminium?” The spelling of “calcium,” “magnesium,” “plutonium,” and numerous other elements suggest that our spelling of “aluminum” is a pretty glaring mistake. This is the argument Whittle makes, along with the rest of the world, with the important difference being that Bill doesn’t offer this up as evidence that Americans are semi-literate baboons.

However, this argument from consistency fails on the merits, as I have pointed out on countless occasions following the aforementioned pint or two (or three.) Why do they worry about our misspelling of “aluminium” when their own misspelling of the word that clearly should be “platinium” is just as glaring? Also, what about molybdenum? Shouldn’t that be “molybdenium?” I always mention both platinum and molybdenum, the former because it clearly refutes the idea that an element name can’t end in “num” rather than “nium” and the latter because my opponents, though clearly the products of a superior educational system and my intellectual betters in every way, have by and large never heard of it.

But let’s put the argument about consistency away. There is a much more compelling reason why we are right to spell “aluminum” as we do. “Aluminum” is the name given to the element by Sir Humphry Davy, the (British) chemist who first identified the metal base of alum. (There is one earlier reference by Davy to “alumium,” presumably meaning the same thing, but this was part of a dashed-off list of potential elements that might be discovered, not the definitive work on isolating aluminum. Since no one has ever used this version of the name, we can discount it.)

Davy named the element “aluminum,” Americans call it “aluminum,” so we’re right and the world is wrong.

Right?

Well, it isn’t quite that simple. Although it wasn’t his idea to change the spelling, Davy did eventually go along with the change to “aluminium,” which caught on in Britain after the original spelling was already out and becoming the accepted usage in the US. The Wikipedia article on the subject actually gives a pretty good account of what happened.

Davy had settled on aluminum by the time he published his 1812 book Chemical Philosophy: “This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina.” But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy’s book, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, “for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound.”

So as is often the case in these instances of divergent spelling, it isn’t really about who is right and who is wrong. Both spellings are legitimate. When Americans use the older British spelling, we honor the wishes of an important scientist who made many substantial contributions to human knowledge. When Brits (and all those Brit-wannabes out there) use the more recent British spelling, they honor the wishes of some anonymous pencil-pusher remembered only for his pretentiousness and his ability to play on the unique British anxiety that perhaps one doesn’t sound as “classical” as one might.

If there is a more succinct and revealing example of the difference between American and British culture than that, I haven’t come across it yet.


* Granted, those two accusations are specific to Brits vs. Americans, but Brits are who we’re really arguing with in these instances. Aussies and New Zealanders don’t (necessarily) have bad teeth, but they all see themselves as Brits when it comes to the spelling of “aluminum.”

FastForward Radio — George Dvorsky on the H+ Summit

 

Phil and Stephen welcome popular writer and futurist George Dvorsky back to FastForward radio to provide his impressions of the H+ Summit at Harvard.


 

 


 

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Listen to internet radio with The Speculist on Blog Talk Radio





 About Our Guest












Canadian futurist, consultant and award winning blogger, George Dvorsky has written and spoken extensively about the impacts of cutting-edge science and technology — particularly as they pertain to the improvement of human performance and experience. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He blogs at Sentient Developments.

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Thanks for the Coverage

Many thanks to guest blogger Leslie Kirschner for her posts on the H+ summit over the weekend. Great stuff.

Leslie, now that you’ve got a Speculist account we hope you won’t be a stranger around here.

Liveblogging Singularity Is Near Premiere

These are my Tweets from the world premiere of the Singularity Is Near at the Breckenridge Film Festival…

At Breckenridge Film Festival for world Premiere of The Singularity is near. First short, Future Dave. Pretty funny.

Second short Rainbow Chasers — spoof of Storm Chasers.

Interruped 3 times now with projector trouble. Not a good sign.

They’re sending someone out for a bulb. Someone else is going home for aeosol dust cleaner.

Ray is doing Q&A while they fiddle with the projector.

Sundance this ain’t.

Maybe the Singularity isn’t all that near after all?

They claim this happens all the time at Telluride! Aerosol dust spray is here!

Guy running the show just asked whether anyone in the place has a Phillips head screwdriver.