| abstract
| - Interview with Kirk Pearson by Jonathan Despres. Go to the Interviews. I am a software engineer. I have a Bachelors degree in Computer Science and a minor in English (with an emphasis on creative writing). I am best known for my website which catalogs research projects (usually scientific) which apply distributed computing principles to study problems which can't be studied effectively by one person or by one computer and in which the public can participate. I also run a website called Walk Around the World Club () which encourages people to improve their health through walking. The site sets distance goals to motivate people to keep walking and to think about large-scale and long-term goals. I want to encourage as many people as possible to become involved in distributed computing projects and in "distributed thinking" projects in which people do the work instead of computers. The next significant scientific discoveries will come from people and their computers working collectively to solve large problems and to explore new ideas. And if we don't make collective use of all of the computing power available to us we are just wasting it. I don't know if we ever will. We have a lot more to understand about life and life processes first. We can't predict future possibilities until we understand how current biological systems work and how they can be safely modified. With collective research we will make scientific discoveries more rapidly than ever before in human history, and these discoveries will change our lives and our environment in ways we won't expect. These changes may or may not lead to a singularity. We will live in better harmony with our environment (if we don't, we will become extinct). We will be able to create things and do things that we can't possibly imagine now. We will eventually understand life processes and our bodies well enough to make Cryonics work. I don't know when that will be. At least 50 years from now. During and after college, all of my jobs have been related to computers and software. Every job I have had has focused on creating newer, better and simpler tools to help other people be more creative and productive. I have learned that doing things for others is more fulfilling than doing things just for myself. And I don't like to put my effort into things that won't have a long-lasting, positive impact on society. Cryonics doesn't show short-term or guaranteed results and people tend not to put effort into projects in which they can't see the results. I believe in the possibility of a god, but I will not believe in a god until I have observed irrefutable evidence of one. Practical Optimism - Mankind has no future unless we believe we have one. And a future isn't worth working toward if it's not better than the present. Rational Thinking - We need to understand the way things really are. If we project our beliefs onto our surroundings we can never truly understand those surroundings. We should continue to conduct fundamental scientific research. The more we learn about our environment the more we learn about how we can improve it and change it without harming it and us. Biology is central to life. Biology concepts will be a part of life in whatever forms life takes. Douglas Adams. He taught us to be skeptical of beliefs and to view our surroundings openly and with a sense of humor and of wonder. I have no opinion about that. I have always kept my mind open to new experiences and new possibilities, and I have encouraged others to do the same. That is private information I don't share with anyone. But it gives me direction for improving myself. I would love to know definitely that there is other life in the universe (intelligent or not) and I would love to be part of that discovery. I would love to create awareness and appreciation of distributed computing projects in the general public and to influence people to make participation in those projects a regular part of their lives. I have many favorite books. It's hard to pick just one. Mathematics, Music Competition generates new ideas and new ways of thinking, so in those respects it is good. I would say hello to them at the least. I would help them advance their technology if doing so would benefit them and if they wanted to advance it. Biological simulations will help to advance those fields since the simulations will give us a better understanding of current biological processes and help us to apply and improve those processes. I don't know. Distributed computing. It will help us, through simulation, to design the best manufacturing tool as quickly, efficiently, and cheaply as possible. It would be useful if a person is emotionally ready for the kind of lifestyle that that would mean. People could developer their specialized knowledge and research very deeply. They could also perfect any arts or skills they have developed. They could also develop several knowledge areas or skills deeply instead of just one or a few. On the other hand, a finite lifetime is part of being human. If we take away that aspect of the human experience, how will we change? What happens to a person when he gains enough resources to take care of his basic needs forever without effort and is no longer motivated by the need for survival? What happens to a person if she is no longer motivated to learn and explore? Will our existence still be precious to us when we know it won't be taken away from us? Jobs related to education, basic health care and the maintenance of society will remain the same. Other jobs will be determined by the scientific discoveries we make: there is no way to predict what these jobs may be. Many of today's jobs could not have been predicted 20 or even 10 years ago. I think pain and suffering are important aspects of what make us human, and if we try to eradicate them we will make ourselves less human. I don't know whether that is good or bad. It will not happen from one moment to the next, but rather as a gradual accumulation of changes. We will not recognize it until after it has occurred, and we will not agree completely on what it is or was. It may have already occurred. The Internet could be the singularity. The rise of intelligence in humans could be the singularity. Everything will be connected and group-think will be the rule rather than the exception. Information storage and processing will be shared and will be accessible by anyone, anywhere. Nearly every object we create will produce data. Everyone will have the ability to know about any object or place in real-time. We will have the ability to augment our perception of our surroundings with nearly infinite layers of information. We will be overwhelmed by information and by possibilities. There is no way to guess what they may be, but they will be built on the ideas of today. The more significant inventions will help the living species of Earth to move and live elsewhere in the universe and to ensure their survival beyond the lifetime of the Sun. We should decrease the total human population by gradually decreasing the number of births. Using fewer resources and creating less pollution is the best way to improve our ecology, and the best way to do it is for fewer of us to exist. Some kind of technology could clean up pollution, but I don't know how it could do it or how soon. We will only find that answer through fundamental research and experimentation. We must ensure that whatever the technology is, it does not create harmful side-effects or byproducts for the environment and other species when we use it. Contact Agnostic Independent Democrat kpearson@distributedcomputing.info favorite song: "Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong favorite style of music: Electronica/Techno/Trance Dr. Vijay Pande, the creator of Folding@home ( )
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)