Analysis of Some Speculations Concerning the Far Future of Intelligent Civilizations

Abstract

I discuss some of the speculations proposed by Stewart (Found Sci 15(4): 395-409, 2010a). These include the following propositions: the cooperation at larger and larger scales, the existence of larger scale processes, the enhancement of the tuning as the universe cycle repeats, the transmission between universes and the motivations to produce a new universe.Keywords Far future · Evolution of the universe · Fine-tuning I do largely share Stewart's general vision of cosmic evolution and development, and I very much value the speculations he proposes. Connecting in such a coherent way intelligence and cosmic evolution is rarely attempted, and even more rarely so inspiring. The significance of the worldview outlined here is potentially of paramount importance for the future of intelligence.Obviously, it would be boring for the reader to state all the points were we do agree. Therefore, I will focus on (relatively minor) issues where our positions diverge, to sharpen and extend them or hopefully to reach agreement.As Stewart acknowledges, many themes in this paper are speculative: "the difficulty we face in trying to evaluate these possibilities at our current scale and intelligence is likely to be similar to the challenge facing an intelligent bacterium in our gut that is trying to make sense of the social interactions we engage in." Speculating on those issues can easily lead us very far. For this reason, we need to have clear ideas on how and why we speculate. I distinguish three kinds of speculations to navigate into their variety: Rottiers (2010) did also comment on Stewart's (2010a) paper. See (Stewart 2010b) for replies.

Fine-Tuning, Quantum Mechanics and Cosmological Artificial Selection

“…This critique was also made in (Byl 1996;Barrow 1999, 132;Vidal 2010b). It is indeed correct, but the underlying fundamental problem is that the usual explanatory scheme Vaas describes does not hold when we bring a kind of "ultimate theory" at play (Rescher 2000).…”

“…Indeed, if we assume a complexification between universes, we will automatically shift the fine-tuning problem (see also Vidal 2010b). In addition, we must assume that there is no "first universe".…”

Participating in the Meaning of Life, a Contributor’s Critique

“…This moment has however yet to come. Vidal (2010) did also comment on Stewart (2010a) paper. See (Stewart 2010b) for replies.…”