This post gets pretty existential. If you’re willing to indulge me, read on…
Science can illuminate the laws of physics and the facts of matter and energy, but as philosopher David Hume points out, there’s no way to extrapolate this knowledge into a set of moral truths.
We can measure what the universe is, but that doesn’t tell us what it’s for.
Qualities like purpose, right and wrong, and good and evil, aren’t attributes of physical reality. They exist only when conferred by something with a subjective point of view — something that’s conscious.
Religious believers accept their god’s perspective as a definitive source of meaning and truth. For the rest of us, much remains unresolved. If nobody created the universe, and nobody controls the universe, who possesses the authority to decide its goals and the best uses of its resources?
Just as the mind creates purpose for the body, I believe our civilization’s destiny is to create purpose for the cosmos. I think we’ll do it through the act of design — a word that means deciding what ought to be, and doing something about it.
If this seems arrogant (and I’m sure it will), consider that humanity isn’t merely a visitor in the universe, but a part of the universe itself. As conscious beings, we are the organs through which the universe may determine its values and reason for being. Our convictions and the universe’s convictions are one and the same — at least at some local level.
While designing the universe may sound like science fiction, we’ve actually been doing it for as long as we’ve been making deliberate changes to our environment. After all, the universe is everywhere. The difference now is that we’re on the cusp of technology that will exponentially increase the scale at which we work. With artificial general intelligence “AGI” as partners or successors, who knows what we might achieve?
If you’re horrified by the prospect of our civilization seizing control as the sole form-giver of reality and designator of values, rest assured — the universe is big enough for a variety of visions. In fact, physics itself puts a hard cap on the extent of our reach. I’m not suggesting we’ll assume the role popularly assigned to god, but perhaps our future will entail joining a diverse pantheon of creators and purpose makers.
In any case, without a source of consciousness to bestow meaning, and craft the raw materials of the universe into something worthwhile, the cosmic endowment will simply be an unrealized opportunity. Due to entropy and cosmic expansion, the scope of possibility that remains is ever-deteriorating — and thus we have an incentive to get a move on.
As humanity gears up for a technologically empowered future, it seems our primary occupation as a species will be the enterprise of design. Success will require answering questions about our values, our goals, and the limits of our imaginations. We’ll also need to get much better at skills like systems thinking and cooperation in order to implement the visions we dream up. Embracing our current existential challenges as a form of training would be a smart move.
The universe doesn’t come with an instruction manual, but the time has come to write one. Let’s prepare ourselves to do an outstanding job. Let’s prepare to design.
This post owes a great deal to two excellent books: Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark, and The Big Picture by Sean Carroll
Designable.blog 