Is the psycho-social system of NSG forming its own mind?

[Skrewalkers]

So many conflicting ideals...it must have dissociative identity disorder.

I read somewhere once that a neurologist had proposed that humans arrive at a conclusion first, and then the higher analytic functions of our brain come up with a justification for the conclusion after. Claimed it was some sort of quantum effect. No idea if its true.

But it would make for some scary blackouts.

"Um, mom...did I overthrow the government of Boliva last month?"

"Yes, dear, don't you remember? Also, you manipulated public discourse to bring about polyamorous gay marriage in internal waters."

[The Republic of Mattlandia]

So many conflicting ideals...it must have dissociative identity disorder.

That, PTSD from all the good war RP's, insanity from being around magic too long, multiple personality disorder from all the different nations, and a whole ton of other stuff...

It's like NSG could do a one man play.

[Benuty]

Day 1: The NationStates forum gains consciousness and begins to spread throughout the internet

Day 1 + 1 second: The NationStates forum collapses into a gibbering wreck of insanity after reading the posts in its mind

No it must converge into one being of artificial intelligence if we are to survive.

[Thanatttynia]

Wait what

[Aravea]

So many conflicting ideals...it must have dissociative identity disorder.

That, PTSD from all the good war RP's, insanity from being around magic too long, multiple personality disorder from all the different nations, and a whole ton of other stuff...

So what has NSG developed due to all the horrible rps?

[Kanery]

If NSG were becoming sentient it would probably only be able to do so if it were able to create for itself a thread in which it's individual nodes (us) were able to begin a larger contemplation of the mind as a whole, thus aware of itself..."self-aware." Since we ourselves are involved with such a thread at this moment, it should be obvious that you theory is correct. Let us be slow in contemplating this new, higher awareness; it may be our only way of prolonging our usefulness.

[Hydronium]

That, PTSD from all the good war RP's, insanity from being around magic too long, multiple personality disorder from all the different nations, and a whole ton of other stuff...

So what has NSG developed due to all the horrible rps?

Absolute insanity...

[New haven america]

I suggest we attempt to learn from it, see its patterns, and coexist with this new being.

Very wise.

[Skrewalkers]

I do like the comparison of the connections and speculations of players to synapses and mental arguments. I somehow find it hard to think it would become self aware, but the interactions of players could definitely be studied as a massive network, each player having it's own opinion, making connection with those it agrees with, forming cases to weigh against those it disagrees with, and the like. The connections could be very interesting.

Or we could just end up with a massive pile of randomness. But it would be a hivemind generated pile of randomness.

Heh, it would be funny if the quality of its output was very close to the 50th percentile of general human intelligence, casting doubt and NSG's self-reported occurrence of supra-normative intelligence.

Then the hive-mind would be all sad and just play Skyrim until mercifully deleted.

[Skrewalkers]

If NSG were becoming sentient it would probably only be able to do so if it were able to create for itself a thread in which it's individual nodes (us) were able to begin a larger contemplation of the mind as a whole, thus aware of itself..."self-aware." Since we ourselves are involved with such a thread at this moment, it should be obvious that you theory is correct. Let us be slow in contemplating this new, higher awareness; it may be our only way of prolonging our usefulness.

A sagacious caveat.

Do you suppose that, much like in chaos systems, initial conditions will result in tremendous variance in later states of the system?

We should be careful.

Perhaps even kinder.

[DesAnges]

OP, that must have been some fucking good acid.

[Gallopfrey and the Pony Republic Therof]

I do like the comparison of the connections and speculations of players to synapses and mental arguments. I somehow find it hard to think it would become self aware, but the interactions of players could definitely be studied as a massive network, each player having it's own opinion, making connection with those it agrees with, forming cases to weigh against those it disagrees with, and the like. The connections could be very interesting.

Or we could just end up with a massive pile of randomness. But it would be a hivemind generated pile of randomness.

Heh, it would be funny if the quality of its output was very close to the 50th percentile of general human intelligence, casting doubt and NSG's self-reported occurrence of supra-normative intelligence.

Then the hive-mind would be all sad and just play Skyrim until mercifully deleted.

If it really became sentient, it would start a weekly sentience thread where we debated whether it was sentient or not.

If NSG were becoming sentient it would probably only be able to do so if it were able to create for itself a thread in which it's individual nodes (us) were able to begin a larger contemplation of the mind as a whole, thus aware of itself..."self-aware." Since we ourselves are involved with such a thread at this moment, it should be obvious that you theory is correct. Let us be slow in contemplating this new, higher awareness; it may be our only way of prolonging our usefulness.

So you're saying... to become self aware, all that NSG needs is for us to continue thinking that it is self aware, in a positive feedback loop of sorts?

[The Ferret Revolution]

If NSG was self aware it would have a seriously fucked up multiple personality disorder.

[Nationalist State of Knox]

Have we not plugged this one into the Hivemind yet?

[Skrewalkers]

Day 1: The NationStates forum gains consciousness and begins to spread throughout the internet

Day 1 + 1 second: The NationStates forum collapses into a gibbering wreck of insanity after reading the posts in its mind

No it must converge into one being of artificial intelligence if we are to survive.

But how would the radically varying mentalities (in both inclination and acuity) reconcile themselves to the internal coherence of a single being?

Or perhaps all single beings are composed of such a cacophony of psyche, and only the final ideological-gestalt output gives the illusion of singularity?

Are we all little hive minds, little sections of lobe and lattice, no more able to survive independently than most technical and scientifical specialists could survive today without the broader mechanisms of society?

Maybe the mad russian was right to go live in the forest...

[Benuty]

You know what would be really cool is if Max Berry was secretly an A.I who has been socially testing us all and growing the site since 2003. Using a human puppet figure to appear every now and then to ward off suspicion. Of-course I could just be crazy lol.

[New haven america]

Where the hell do you get your drug's?
They're working on you, and I want some.

[Norstal]

Here on nationstates general, there is a dynamic and ceaseless interaction between people and ideas, both creche and habitat for intellects young and old. In this environment, the synaptic threads are formed and sundered, sending both meaningful signal and flaming friction until knowledge is gained and/or the mods pop a Midol of red text and put our threads to bed.

Some is regurgitation, some is pseudo-intellectual posturing, some is the vigor of youth stretching its legs into the forest philosophy, history, politics...but some is contemplative, even cogitative, sometimes someone even says something new. Like an accelerator circling the same subjects over and over again, seeking that critical collision of consideration that reveals something. Even the grinding of the same repeated arguments, the same weary fallacies (and wearier naming of fallacy) much surely leave some callous on these many minds, shaping, smoothing, even polishing those few who might shine in thought or deed.

So what comes from this engine, from its 24/7 surging, the fuel of frustration and friendships, the torque of our time and talents...is it merely play?

Might there be some psycho-social intelligence slowly forming, the glial cells of the gamers giving a structure to house the dendrites forming across continents, neural paths leading to General like roads to Rome...

...and what would it say?

If NSG became somehow self-aware, and sifted through the summation of debates, nourished by salty spam and even the tender masses of our tumorous trolls, what might it be thinking?

I think it might ask, "who am I? Why am I here? What should I do? What is important to me? From where did I come? If I haven't read 'Lexicon' yet, why not?"

And those are questions that, to me, bespeak of life.

Like a brilliant lunatic, torn asunder by cognitive dissonance and unsilented voices, NSG is a thousand-lobed beast.

Topic of discussion: If it could speak and not but howl, what would it say?

Stop it, me. I shouldn't make weird threads like that. Wouldn't I agree so, me?

[DesAnges]

No it must converge into one being of artificial intelligence if we are to survive.

But how would the radically varying mentalities (in both inclination and acuity) reconcile themselves to the internal coherence of a single being?

Or perhaps all single beings are composed of such a cacophony of psyche, and only the final ideological-gestalt output gives the illusion of singularity?

Are we all little hive minds, little sections of lobe and lattice, no more able to survive independently than most technical and scientifical specialists could survive today without the broader mechanisms of society?

Maybe the mad russian was right to go live in the forest...

I'm starting to think this is a chance for an English graduate to show off all the pretty words he learned at university.

It's good shit though, not knocking it at all.

[Skrewalkers]

OP, that must have been some fucking good acid.

I am absent the sophistication of psychotropic palate (or palette, if one prefers synesthesia) to intelligently compare the quality of different acids.

More study is needed.

[Norstal]

Where the hell do you get your drug's?
They're working on you, and I want some.

Well I should know where I get my drugs, me. But let's not post it all over the internet. Besides, I don't like drugs and I shouldn't have some.

[DesAnges]

OP, that must have been some fucking good acid.

I am absent the sophistication of psychotropic palate (or palette, if one prefers synesthesia) to intelligently compare the quality of different acids.

More study is needed.

This is brilliant. Everyone should be forced to post like this for their first 100 posts.

[Skrewalkers]

You know what would be really cool is if Max Berry was secretly an A.I who has been socially testing us all and growing the site since 2003. Using a human puppet figure to appear every now and then to ward off suspicion. Of-course I could just be crazy lol.

And thus, under observation, the uncollapsed probability wave of all human history was coalesced into a single outcome, and the voice of our world prepared to announce its awareness to the universe.

We should seriously all read Lexicon, though. It sounds good.

[Timurid Empire]

Gods help us all if it does.

[Uieurnthlaal]

A mind must have some sort of input stream of diverse information, some sort of outer stream of into diverse information, and some sort of way to act in ways that respond to the input information in constructive ways. Since NSG takes in only news and ideas as its input stream, processes it without outputting anything significant, and doesn't respond the input information in constructive ways, it is not a mind.
It is, however, part of the internet, which is, quite literally, a mind of its own.