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SOME PLANTS HAVE “the coexistence of females and hermaphrodites. Although females exist extensively among hermaphroditic plant species, they are present at a noticeable frequency in only a few species, which are termed gynodioecious.” https://lnkd.in/d4QE8Rq View in LinkedIn

RAY KURZWEIL of Google has been a brilliant provocateur, futurist, and transhumanist proponent. He has stimulated a vigorous discussion about brain uploading, and the future of human intelligence. Fresh air and pedants rarely mix well, except in the incendiary sense. Bring on the fireworks! View in LinkedIn

MIND UPLOADING might be seen as a quasi-spiritual, soft-science, woo-woo subject. Disregarding the freak show attendant, it is a serious topic, with serious thinkers deeply engaged. At its heart is the nature of (Artificial) Intelligence, the transition from inanimate to animate, and autonomous existence, questions we ask about viruses. It should engage those of us in the life sciences, and those interested in the greater questions of cultural evolution. View in LinkedIn

BIG FRESH IDEAS are sometimes simply too tempting to turn your back on, regardless how seemingly outrageous. More often than not, if the intellectual provenance of their supporters is strong, there is a fire behind the smoke. Uploading the mind is one of those big fresh ideas. Every good idea has testable hypotheses. View in LinkedIn

THOUGHTS, experiences, emotions and memories are chemically and electrically coded information in our minds. When we save a regular file on the computer to the hard drive, it is electronically coded information. What is the basis for thinking we could take that warm wet thing called a brain and put it into I/O electronic code? And, like the concept of intelligent machines, that it could continue to think, experience, feel and remember? View in LinkedIn

UNLIKELY PROBABILITY. “Exhibit A: The laws of probability theory dictate that as a story gets more complicated, and depends on the truth of more and more claims, its probability of being true decreases.” https://lnkd.in/daiyRaS View in LinkedIn

BRAIN UPLOADING? When I first read Ray Kurtzweil's ideas about putting consciousness on a computer or the web, I simply thought that he had lost it, despite his evident credentials. Such an outrageously novel idea seemed similar to claims that death was old hat (wait for this theme!). I was troubled by the biochemical and anatomical conundrum of putting your brain on a pen-drive. We have nothing to lose but to gander down this lane and take a look. View in LinkedIn