Thursday, June 24, 2010

Can We Evolve a DNA Computer or Cultured Neural Net that Perceives the Future?

After some interesting conversations about psi with Damien Broderick, I couldn't resist spending a half-day writing up some old ideas I had about how to modify quantum physics to better explain psi phenomena like precognition, ESP and psychokinesis.

You can find my funky physics speculations at

http://goertzel.org/dynapsyc/MorphicPilot.htm

-- (Parenthetical remark: If you want to argue with me about whether psi phenomena exist or not, please first read the excellent books by Damien Broderick (a serious-minded popular overview) and Ramakrishna Rao (a selection of research papers from the relevant scientific literature). My general attitude on the topic of psi agrees with that of researcher Dean Radin, expressed in the last few paragraphs of his online bio. I enjoy discussing the topic as time permits, but I don't enjoy discussing it with people who are both heavily biased AND ignorant of the current state of scientific knowledge.) --

After writing up those old physics speculations and then thinking on the matter a bit more, I started musing in an even more weird direction....

Suppose it's true that psi phenomena are related to peculiar quantum-like phenomena among interacting molecules in the brain....

Then, this suggests that it might also be possible to cause other conglomerations of organic molecules or cells, similar to the ones in the brain, to display psi-like phenomena....

One naturally wonders about technologies such as reconfigurable DNA computers ... or cultured neural networks (neural nets grown in the lab outside the brain) ....

There is abundant data demonstrating the ability of many people to predict the outcome of random number generators with statistically significant accuracy (see this article for a moderately out-of-date review and some pointers into the literature). Might it be possible to create a DNA computer or cultured neural network that could carry out, say, statistically significant precognition of number series produced by random number generators?

Since we don't know much about how the brain does precognition, we don't know how to wire such a DNA computer or cultured neural network, step by step.

However, nobody wired the brain step by step either -- the brain evolved to do the things it does (apparently including a weak capability for psi).

What if we used evolutionary computing -- a genetic algorithms approach -- to evolve biological computing systems (DNA computers or cultured neural nets), where the fitness function was the capability to predict the future of number series generated by random number generators?

In this way, we could potentially create psi-capable biological computing systems, even without understanding exactly how they work.

We would also get an ensemble of biological computing systems with differing levels of psi capability -- and by applying machine learning tools to study the internals of these evolved systems, we would likely to be able to limn some of the patterns characterizing the more psi-successful systems.

Obviously, if this worked, it would be a scientific revolution -- it would point the way beyond current physics, and it would allow us to carry out psi research without needing whole living organisms as subjects.

Yes, yes, yes, this is real mad scientist stuff ... but every now and then one of us "mad" scientists turns out to be right about some pretty surprising things.... The idea in this blog post is one of those that seems really wacky at first -- and then less and less so progressively, the more you read from the relevant scientific literature, and the more you think about it....

Well, this stuff is tantalizing as hell to muse about, but now I'd better get back to my more mundane, not-so-speculative activities like trying to build superhuman AGI and studying the genetics of longevity....