FROM THE THINKING WATER
HotTub.im · The Thinking Water
Deep thoughts from warm water.
Philosophy without the bloody lecture.
What makes you you? Do machines have personalities? Can an old car have a soul? And why do the most important questions always arrive when you’re sitting in a tub doing absolutely nothing useful?
Welcome to HotTub.im — one man’s collection of thoughts about life, consciousness, memory, technology and the occasional spectacularly stupid joke.
Not a professor. Just a bloke in warm water.
I’m not a professor, a philosopher or the sort of person who owns a special chair for thinking. I’m a bloke who asks far too many questions, often while submerged in warm water.
Some of the ideas are sensible. Some are probably nonsense. Occasionally, the nonsense turns out to be the interesting bit.
The big one is this: I think memory is at the heart of identity. Not necessarily all of consciousness, and certainly not a scientific proof of a soul — but the thing that turns existence into someone. History gives us continuity. Difference gives us character. Other people make that character meaningful.
And if we can recognise that in people, animals and even battered old cars, perhaps we should at least think carefully before declaring that artificial intelligence could never have anything resembling it.
A QUESTION WORTH ASKING
The thoughts
- Memory Is Everything
If you lost every memory, would you still be the same person? And if someone remembers you after you’re gone, how much of you remains?
Seriousness: Slightly Deep - Carbon Monsters and Silicon Thinkers
One sort of intelligence runs on biology. Another runs on electronics. Why are we so certain the material tells us the whole story?
Seriousness: Almost Academic - Why Old Cars Have Souls
One car is a collection of parts. Another is a member of the family with a gearbox problem and a terrible attitude.
Seriousness: Slightly Deep - The Underwriters Say No
When an AI develops a recognisable personality, is it merely responding well — or is there a larger question we haven’t answered?
Seriousness: Slightly Deep - In Defence of Useless Things
Not every interesting fact needs to improve your productivity, make you money or change your life.
Seriousness: Mostly Nonsense - Carbon, Silicon and Silicone
An attempt to have a serious philosophical conversation that went exactly where you’d expect.
Seriousness: Absolute Bollocks
More thoughts, fewer certainties. See all thirteen essays and twenty short thoughts →
The one rule
You don’t have to agree with any of it.
I’d rather you read something, disagree, laugh, think about it, and arrive at your own conclusion than be told what to believe. This is a place for questions, not commandments.
HotTub.im — Fun. Educational. Useless.