Just because we're conscious
doesn't mean that we're not robots.
When the human conscious mind evolved, its purpose was to assist the already-existing non-conscious mind, not to control it.
Conscious Robots Theory explains how the conscious mind is controlled,
and how this fools us into thinking that we have "free will".
1) Our conscious minds are programmed to make choices that we calculate will maximise how good we feel.
2) These feelings are controlled by a “Happiness Algorithm”
3) When the algorithm calculates that the survival chances of our genes has increased, it makes us feel good – so that our conscious minds know what results to try to achieve in future.
4) When the algorithm calculates that the survival chances of our genes has decreased, it makes us feel bad.
5) “Happily Ever After” is impossible.
Not because we haven’t done a great job of controlling the world around us, but because evolution doesn’t want us to be happy – happiness isn’t the result of a life well-lived, it’s the mechanism that natural selection uses to control our choices.
6) Finally the Good News
The Happiness Algorithm is a bug –
a bug in the programming of our conscious minds
that our conscious minds will inevitably learn to exploit so that we can take
direct conscious control of how good we feel
all day
regardless of what happens in the outside world.
When we learn to reprogramme the bug,
we will stop spending our lives as
slaves to our genes…
and finally live for our own benefit.
It won’t be Free Will
– because Free Will is impossible –
but it will be
what we would do with Free Will if we really had it.
How We Live Our Lives
We live our lives on the assumption that, if we can overcome various challenges in the world around us, we’ll be rewarded with happiness, contentment and satisfaction: if we have a nice house, well-adjusted kids and a couple of good vacations a year, we’ll live “happily ever after”.
The Reality
The reality is that “how we feel” is entirely determined by an algorithm running in the non-conscious part of our minds – the part of our brains over which we have no conscious control.
The Happiness Algorithm
The Happiness Algorithm is programmed by millions of years of evolution to maximise the survival chances of our genes – if the survival chances of our genes improves, the algorithm makes us feel “good”, if the survival chances of our genes falls we feel “bad” – pain, anguish, sorrow, anxiety and fear.
Evolution doesn't want us to live "Happily Ever After"
Our Ancestors became our ancestors because they were never satisfied.
Their Happiness Algorithms never allowed them to remain happy for very long – always taking away any satisfaction that they achieved from all their hard work killing wooly mammoths and learning how to knit.
Which is why we’re no happier in the 21st Century with our mobile phones and indoor toilets than our great-great-grandparents…
who were delighted with enough to eat and safe place to sleep at night.
Taking Control
What’s the plan, Elon?
Conscious Robots Theory states that:
1) our Conscious Minds
were programmed by Natural Selection
with a “Happiness Algorithm” –
that causes our Conscious Minds
to make choices that we calculate will
maximise Good Feelings
and minimse Bad Feelings.
2) that the Feelings actually experienced
by our Conscious Minds
are at the sole discretion of a
“Gene-Propagation Algorithm”
running in a non-conscious part of our brains
that makes us
Feel Good
when the algorithm calculates that
the Survival Chances of Our Genes has increased
and makes us
Feel Bad
when the algorithm calculates that
the Survival Chances of Our Genes has decreased.
3) that the “Gene-Propagation Algorithm” prevents us being particularly happy, regardless of how successful we are at increasing
the Survival Chances of our Genes,
using the “Pleasure-Fader” algorithm
and the “Expectation-Adjuster” algorithm
to keep us on the Hedonic Treadmill for our whole lives.
4) that the “Happiness Algorithm”
is a “Bug in the Programming of our Conscious Minds”
that our Conscious Minds will inevitably learn to exploit
so that we can take Direct Conscious Control of how good we feel, all day, regardless of what happens in the outside world.
.
.
When we learn to reprogramme this Bug,
we will stop spending our lives as
Slaves to our Genes…
and finally live our lives for our own benefit.
It won’t be Free Will
– because Free Will is impossible –
but it will be
what we would do with Free Will
if we really had It.
.
.
.
How We Live Our Lives
We live our lives on the assumption that, if we can overcome various challenges in the world around us, we’ll be rewarded with happiness, contentment and satisfaction: if we have nice house, a great relationship, well-adjusted kids and a couple of good vacations a year, we’ll live “happily ever after”.
The Reality
The reality is that “how we feel” is entirely determined by an algorithm running in the non-conscious part of our minds – the part of our brains over which we have no conscious control.
The Happiness Algorithm
The Happiness Algorithm is programmed by millions of years of evolution to maximise the survival chances of our genes – if the survival chances of our genes improves, the algorithm makes us feel “good”, if the survival chances of our genes falls we feel “bad” – pain, anguish, sorrow, anxiety and fear.
Evolution doesn't want us to live "Happily Ever After"
Our Ancestors became our ancestors because they were never satisfied.
Their Happiness Algorithms never allowed them to remain happy for very long – always taking away any satisfaction that they achieved from all their hard work killing wooly mammoths and learning how to knit.
Which is why we’re no happier in the 21st Century with our mobile phones and indoor toilets than our great-great-grandparents…
who were delighted with enough to eat and safe place to sleep at night.
Taking Control
What’s the plan, Elon?
Life is inherently unsatisfactory
- Buddha
Life is inherently satisfactory
- Conscious Robots Theory
Happiness Party Sweeps to Power
As polls closed last night it became clear that an unprecedented change had occurred in British politics. Ever since Oliver Cromwell began the slow route to democracy, political parties have promised to improve the economy and the wealth of the people - the assumption being that an improvement in the standard of living would automatically lead to an improvement in the quality of life experienced by the citizens. Voters have now emphatically rejected this assumption. From now on, it appears, governments are expected to make their constituents happy. Directly. It’s been a slow route to power for the Happiness Party. 20 years ago, when Jenny Fastnet first began her campaign she was regarded as a harmless nut. With grace and humility, Fastnet gently insisted that our internal feelings are what’s important, and that ‘how we feel’ is rarely linked to economic prosperity. Her claim that humans need to be saved from the manipulative powers of their own brains fell on closed minds for over a decade until drug companies and neuroscientists began to publish research that suggested that chemical control of conscious feelings was moving from rumour to reality and the voters began to want a slice of the fun for themselves…
The Inevitable Future
Our hero - dishevelled but ruggedly handsome - emerges from the sewers of New York where he’s spent 20 years living with mutant crocodiles. He discovers a world of horror - machines have taken over the world. The entire population of humans are lying in coffin-shaped metal pods, electrodes protruding from their heads, wired up to silent computers. At first sight, and to the un-heroic eye, they appear to be enjoying their incarceration; the unearthly noise hanging over the city is the sound of a million people quietly chuckling to themselves. As our dismayed hero moves swiftly from one tortured individual to the next, the chuckles escalate into uncontrolled giggles, culminating in bloodcurdling gales of laughter. Our hero - his rugged brow creased with the burden of being humanity’s last hope - struggles to turn off the machines and free his fellow citizens. Tearfully, he greets his weakened comrades as they struggle from their cubicles and seize him passionately. But to his surprise, our conquering hero isn’t born aloft in gratitude. Instead, humanity seems to be more than a little upset with him. They seize him roughly, shave his head and pin him down inside his own little box. He struggles, he fights… but he is but one and they are many. As the electrodes bite into his skull, he grits his teeth and steels his mind to repel the horrific brainwashing he’s about to experience. And it’s working! His mental strength is too much for this simple machine. A triumph! The thrill of success courses through his body, a thrill like he’s never felt before. He’s at one with himself, a Renaissance hero after all, he can do anything – anything he damn well likes. He is all-powerful. And he chuckles with the joy of it all. As the chuckles escalate into delighted giggles, he realises he’s free! Free from the dark forces! Free from the tyranny! Finally content, finally at the end of his journey, he barks with laughter as he discovers what it is to be truly alive. His fellow citizens shake their heads in affectionate amusement. “Well, most of us had to try it before we believed it…” they sigh as they hurry to their pods, quickly plugging electrodes back into their heads and cranking the power up to 11.
Businessman Becomes First to Take “Happy Pill”
Yesterday, Jake McClure, Chairman of Genasoft and one of the world’s richest men, announced that he would be “retiring from ordinary life” and consigning himself to the so-called ‘Happiness Bed’. Although others are believed to have experienced ‘The Bed of Roses’ for short periods, McClure is thought to be the first to commit for the rest of his life, and is certainly the first to talk openly to the world’s press. McClure, along with ‘a dozen or so of the world’s wealthiest individuals’, is said to have been a heavy investor in the research for the last 5 years. McClure, 43, briefly answered questions from the press. Could you tell us about the research project that has led to this possibility? "Well, that’s quite confidential. I’ve been a contributor for the last five years, but the project has been operational in various forms for longer. Many top scientists are involved, including several Nobels - initially it was hard to convince them of the validity of the project, but that’s changed recently." Aren’t you sad to be leaving your wife and children? "Yes, indeed. I am very sad. But I know that the feeling of sadness will not be with me tomorrow. Tomorrow, and for the rest of my life, I’ll know only joy, delight and profound contentment." Isn’t your life pretty good anyway? "Yes it is. But it’s nowhere near as perfect as you might imagine. We all assume that huge wealth, great success and a wonderful family will elevate our lives to a degree of satisfaction and delight not experienced by so-called ‘normal’ people. We assume such a life will be free of fear, free of pain, free of worry. But it isn’t. My brain is programmed always to want more than I already have: I cannot free myself from the desire for more, nor from a feeling that the grass could be even greener. And when I take a break from wanting more, and I count my blessings and reflect on how wonderful my life already is… I worry about losing all the things that make it wonderful. "Besides, even if my experience of life were significantly more wonderful than yours, you have to understand that the intensity of the feelings that I’ll be experiencing tomorrow will be way beyond what is normally available in a sustained fashion to a human being - joyous feelings that in our normal lives are rarely glimpsed will become my minute-by-minute reality. I can’t wait." Won’t you be bored? "No. Boredom is a device used by the subconscious mind to influence the choices made by the conscious mind. The Bed rewires the brain. I won’t be bored, simply because my boredom circuits will be disabled." Don’t good feelings in life come from overcoming difficulties? "Indeed they do. That’s absolutely the way it works in ‘normal’ life: our brains only give us satisfaction when we overcome difficulties. But these good feelings that we crave are nothing more than neurological events - patterns of neurons firing in particular ways. Currently, our brains are wired up by millions of years of natural selection so that we experience these feelings only when we improve our genetic survival chances. But that’s just wiring. Our brains can be rewired, just like a light bulb can be rewired. Our scientists have simply put in a new switch... only this time it’s going to be permanently in the ‘on’ position." Aren’t you concerned about the impact on society? "Certainly when the technology becomes more affordable there will be profound changes to society in general, profound changes to people’s priorities. The impact on the economy will be interesting to see... but I won’t be around to see it, because it won’t be as interesting as actually being on The Bed. Am I concerned about that? As long as no-one unplugs me, I’ll be fine!" Aren’t you being a bit selfish? "Absolutely. But I’ve discovered that my fear of being regarded as selfish isn’t sufficiently powerful to forego a life of barely-conceivable bliss." Are you indeed the first? "I’m the first to publicise, yes." But not the first? At this final question, Mr McClure smiled and turned away from the reporters.
Why is Elon flying to Mars?
Does anyone know why Elon Musk wants to go to Mars? On the face of it…. It would be really exciting. He’d get a huge sense of achievement. But… those feelings are being created in his own brain. By his own brain. Mars is an awfully long way to go.. just to convince your own brain to make you feel good. And even when he gets there, he’s only going to feel good for a week or two, and then his brain’s going to start saying “Ok, so you want to feel this good again, you’re going to have to go to Jupiter.” So why doesn’t Elon just start a company to work out how to rewire his own brain? Hold on. Hasn't he already done that? Isn’t the whole point of Neuralink so that you can... rewire your own brain? Is that Elon’s plan? To rewire his own brain… so that he can feel as good as he’ll feel when he gets to Mars… but.. every day? Whenever he wants to. He could just press a button. The “ feel like you’ve just landed on Mars” button.
Trapped inside a Survival Machine
In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins says “We are survival machines - robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. But… he’s not entirely right. If you're conscious, the only thing we care about is our conscious experiences… which means, we’re not so much ‘survival machines’... ... as “trapped inside” those survival machines. And our conscious minds can’t escape… But they can.. take control. Since "forever", our conscious minds have done the bidding of our genes and made decisions, every purpose of which has been to preserve those selfish genes of ours. But that’s only because our conscious minds want to feel good… and the only way our genes will allow us to feel good is if we increase their survival chances.. So the way for us to take control is by rewiring our brains so that we can feel good… all day. Regardless of what happens to our genes And then we won’t be survival machines any longer. We’ll be machines running purely for the pleasure of our conscious minds. My conscious mind can’t wait.
Turtles all the way down
We need to talk about evolution.
Because evolution didn't just create us and then leave us alone to "get on with it". Like, 10,000 years ago. And then we used our "free will" to invent agriculture, nail polish and Netflix.
No way. Not possible. Evolution still controls everything we do. 100%.
We know this because nothing else can be created... other than by genetic changes.
But can't we choose? Can't we choose what we do with our lives?
We are chess computers. We can choose the moves we make to achieve the objective(s) we have been given (although even those choices are just a part of the automatic cascade of chemical reactions that began with the big bang).
But we can't choose our own objectives. Because on what values would we choose new objectives?
It's turtles all the way down. And the turtle at the bottom? He's standing on the (apparent) randomness of genetic change, almost all of which has been selected by "natural selection".
Happiness Party Sweeps to Power
As polls closed last night it became clear that an unprecedented change had occurred in British politics. Ever since Oliver Cromwell began the slow route to democracy, political parties have promised to improve the economy and the wealth of the people - the assumption being that an improvement in the standard of living would automatically lead to an improvement in the quality of life experienced by the citizens. Voters have now emphatically rejected this assumption. From now on, it appears, governments are expected to make their constituents happy. Directly. It’s been a slow route to power for the Happiness Party. 20 years ago, when Jenny Fastnet first began her campaign she was regarded as a harmless nut. With grace and humility, Fastnet gently insisted that our internal feelings are what’s important, and that ‘how we feel’ is rarely linked to economic prosperity. Her claim that humans need to be saved from the manipulative powers of their own brains fell on closed minds for over a decade until drug companies and neuroscientists began to publish research that suggested that chemical control of conscious feelings was moving from rumour to reality and the voters began to want a slice of the fun for themselves…
The Inevitable Future
Our hero - dishevelled but ruggedly handsome - emerges from the sewers of New York where he’s spent 20 years living with mutant crocodiles. He discovers a world of horror - machines have taken over the world. The entire population of humans are lying in coffin-shaped metal pods, electrodes protruding from their heads, wired up to silent computers. At first sight, and to the un-heroic eye, they appear to be enjoying their incarceration; the unearthly noise hanging over the city is the sound of a million people quietly chuckling to themselves. As our dismayed hero moves swiftly from one tortured individual to the next, the chuckles escalate into uncontrolled giggles, culminating in bloodcurdling gales of laughter. Our hero - his rugged brow creased with the burden of being humanity’s last hope - struggles to turn off the machines and free his fellow citizens. Tearfully, he greets his weakened comrades as they struggle from their cubicles and seize him passionately. But to his surprise, our conquering hero isn’t born aloft in gratitude. Instead, humanity seems to be more than a little upset with him. They seize him roughly, shave his head and pin him down inside his own little box. He struggles, he fights… but he is but one and they are many. As the electrodes bite into his skull, he grits his teeth and steels his mind to repel the horrific brainwashing he’s about to experience. And it’s working! His mental strength is too much for this simple machine. A triumph! The thrill of success courses through his body, a thrill like he’s never felt before. He’s at one with himself, a Renaissance hero after all, he can do anything – anything he damn well likes. He is all-powerful. And he chuckles with the joy of it all. As the chuckles escalate into delighted giggles, he realises he’s free! Free from the dark forces! Free from the tyranny! Finally content, finally at the end of his journey, he barks with laughter as he discovers what it is to be truly alive. His fellow citizens shake their heads in affectionate amusement. “Well, most of us had to try it before we believed it…” they sigh as they hurry to their pods, quickly plugging electrodes back into their heads and cranking the power up to 11.
Businessman Becomes First to Take “Happy Pill”
Yesterday, Jake McClure, Chairman of Genasoft and one of the world’s richest men, announced that he would be “retiring from ordinary life” and consigning himself to the so-called ‘Happiness Bed’. Although others are believed to have experienced ‘The Bed of Roses’ for short periods, McClure is thought to be the first to commit for the rest of his life, and is certainly the first to talk openly to the world’s press. McClure, along with ‘a dozen or so of the world’s wealthiest individuals’, is said to have been a heavy investor in the research for the last 5 years. McClure, 43, briefly answered questions from the press. Could you tell us about the research project that has led to this possibility? "Well, that’s quite confidential. I’ve been a contributor for the last five years, but the project has been operational in various forms for longer. Many top scientists are involved, including several Nobels - initially it was hard to convince them of the validity of the project, but that’s changed recently." Aren’t you sad to be leaving your wife and children? "Yes, indeed. I am very sad. But I know that the feeling of sadness will not be with me tomorrow. Tomorrow, and for the rest of my life, I’ll know only joy, delight and profound contentment." Isn’t your life pretty good anyway? "Yes it is. But it’s nowhere near as perfect as you might imagine. We all assume that huge wealth, great success and a wonderful family will elevate our lives to a degree of satisfaction and delight not experienced by so-called ‘normal’ people. We assume such a life will be free of fear, free of pain, free of worry. But it isn’t. My brain is programmed always to want more than I already have: I cannot free myself from the desire for more, nor from a feeling that the grass could be even greener. And when I take a break from wanting more, and I count my blessings and reflect on how wonderful my life already is… I worry about losing all the things that make it wonderful. "Besides, even if my experience of life were significantly more wonderful than yours, you have to understand that the intensity of the feelings that I’ll be experiencing tomorrow will be way beyond what is normally available in a sustained fashion to a human being - joyous feelings that in our normal lives are rarely glimpsed will become my minute-by-minute reality. I can’t wait." Won’t you be bored? "No. Boredom is a device used by the subconscious mind to influence the choices made by the conscious mind. The Bed rewires the brain. I won’t be bored, simply because my boredom circuits will be disabled." Don’t good feelings in life come from overcoming difficulties? "Indeed they do. That’s absolutely the way it works in ‘normal’ life: our brains only give us satisfaction when we overcome difficulties. But these good feelings that we crave are nothing more than neurological events - patterns of neurons firing in particular ways. Currently, our brains are wired up by millions of years of natural selection so that we experience these feelings only when we improve our genetic survival chances. But that’s just wiring. Our brains can be rewired, just like a light bulb can be rewired. Our scientists have simply put in a new switch... only this time it’s going to be permanently in the ‘on’ position." Aren’t you concerned about the impact on society? "Certainly when the technology becomes more affordable there will be profound changes to society in general, profound changes to people’s priorities. The impact on the economy will be interesting to see... but I won’t be around to see it, because it won’t be as interesting as actually being on The Bed. Am I concerned about that? As long as no-one unplugs me, I’ll be fine!" Aren’t you being a bit selfish? "Absolutely. But I’ve discovered that my fear of being regarded as selfish isn’t sufficiently powerful to forego a life of barely-conceivable bliss." Are you indeed the first? "I’m the first to publicise, yes." But not the first? At this final question, Mr McClure smiled and turned away from the reporters.
Why is Elon flying to Mars?
Does anyone know why Elon Musk wants to go to Mars? On the face of it…. It would be really exciting. He’d get a huge sense of achievement. But… those feelings are being created in his own brain. By his own brain. Mars is an awfully long way to go.. just to convince your own brain to make you feel good. And even when he gets there, he’s only going to feel good for a week or two, and then his brain’s going to start saying “Ok, so you want to feel this good again, you’re going to have to go to Jupiter.” So why doesn’t Elon just start a company to work out how to rewire his own brain? Hold on. Hasn't he already done that? Isn’t the whole point of Neuralink so that you can... rewire your own brain? Is that Elon’s plan? To rewire his own brain… so that he can feel as good as he’ll feel when he gets to Mars… but.. every day? Whenever he wants to. He could just press a button. The “ feel like you’ve just landed on Mars” button.
Trapped inside a Survival Machine
In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins says “We are survival machines - robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. But… he’s not entirely right. If you're conscious, the only thing we care about is our conscious experiences… which means, we’re not so much ‘survival machines’... ... as “trapped inside” those survival machines. And our conscious minds can’t escape… But they can.. take control. Since "forever", our conscious minds have done the bidding of our genes and made decisions, every purpose of which has been to preserve those selfish genes of ours. But that’s only because our conscious minds want to feel good… and the only way our genes will allow us to feel good is if we increase their survival chances.. So the way for us to take control is by rewiring our brains so that we can feel good… all day. Regardless of what happens to our genes And then we won’t be survival machines any longer. We’ll be machines running purely for the pleasure of our conscious minds. My conscious mind can’t wait.
Turtles all the way down
We need to talk about evolution.
Because evolution didn't just create us and then leave us alone to "get on with it". Like, 10,000 years ago. And then we used our "free will" to invent agriculture, nail polish and Netflix.
No way. Not possible. Evolution still controls everything we do. 100%.
We know this because nothing else can be created... other than by genetic changes.
But can't we choose? Can't we choose what we do with our lives?
We are chess computers. We can choose the moves we make to achieve the objective(s) we have been given (although even those choices are just a part of the automatic cascade of chemical reactions that began with the big bang).
But we can't choose our own objectives. Because on what values would we choose new objectives?
It's turtles all the way down. And the turtle at the bottom? He's standing on the (apparent) randomness of genetic change, almost all of which has been selected by "natural selection".
Made by Robots and a Human