Alan Turing and the Programmable Universe

I'd like to see him explaining <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect</a> or how Gary Kasparov was beaten (well tied at first) by a computer. I mean did Gary got really dumber in span of a year or so?<p>I think the reason people somewhat erroneously try to 'robotize' people is the fact that they want consistency even if the quality is poorer.

I disagree entirely. The author conflates "making technology easier to use" with "making people dumber". He decries the invention of the typewriter because it ended calligraphy, and the printing press because we no longer have to memorize books. In other words, he is a luddite.<p>He then makes the classic mistake of conflating "intelligence" with "consciousness", completely ignoring Turing's main insight: that consciousness is not testable in human nor machine, and thus, if it acts human, we have no reason to deny it consciousness.

All of that because the education system limits itself being a path to getting money to buy a fish, instead of teaching teaching someone to build a fishing rod.<p>No ease of use, or access to knowledge will fulfill the 'aha moments' and the gut feelings of building a new bridge between you and the world. But it's something hard to see at first and it easily fades.

I would like to point out that things like "Rules to hike into wilderness" are mostly and American phenomena and not loved that wildly by the rest of the world.

I didn't RTFA but "programmable universe" makes me think of this: <a href="http://www.geekosystem.com/dwarf-fortress-turing-machine-computer/" rel="nofollow">http://www.geekosystem.com/dwarf-fortress-turing-machine-com...</a>

Ludicrous author!

The pop band Devo have been pointing out since the 1970's that people seem to be getting dumber as technology advances.

This was absolutely fantastic. Feels like a convergence between Siri and Google is imminent