IAmTranshuman and the Psychology of Abundance
(Cyberspace) Abstract: This presentation is about living the Psychology of Abundance now – and the fact that it is a choice we can collectively make, from the example of how IAmTranshuman became a thing to the kinds of things you can do to help make Superabundance in our society a reality. Society is all about psychology, and it is this “psychology” that we can change one person at a time. IAmTranshuman is therefore about Psychology of Abundance will help us overcome existential risk and bring a brighter world about.
Developed For: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/post-pandemic-a-future-free-of-disease-and-destruction-tickets-107620084570
My name is David James Kelley,
I am Chief Software Architect for the Omnia Product Division at the Boston Consulting Group.
Additionally, I lead research at the AGI Laboratory
My talk today is on the Psychology of Abundance.
Let me note a couple of things before I get started regarding some of what my colleagues have previously mentioned as they are relevant to this talk.
One was Natasha suggested focusing on our area of expertise or where our niche is,
Two, Zoltan mentioned doing whatever it takes to succeed.
These two comments really get to the heart of this talks point,
Remember the longer it takes us to achieve some of our goals on the transhumanist agenda the more people die.
So, lets dive into this talk on “IAmTranshuman and the Psychology of Abundance”;
While I live with a “shrink” and am best friends with a Transhumanist Psychologist from Europe, I am not an expert in psychology but am more a patient given me being on the spectrum.
In fact, what I know professionally is only tangentially related to psychology:
Where I tend to focus on the technical – and having been described at times as a technocrat.
And so, it is fair to ask, “Why the Psychology of Abundance?”
My response is a bit long-winded but that is in fact this talk and my message of hope that I’ll now share.
So, lets lay out the facts as I see them;
Our civilization is built on human psychology,
Specifically, “our” psychology and that of all those who have passed before us.
One of the most obvious examples, in my opinion, that is a product of this psychology is money.
What is money, and why does it have value?
It has value because we say it does, and we believe it does.
It is an arbitrary made-up medium of exchange that helps us manage resources, among other things – and nowadays, it is not even backed up with anything like gold or silver! My point is that things are as they are because
we have decided it and we as a society have acted as if it was the “fact” – which in the case of money,
makes it fact, for no other reason than our psychology.
Large parts of our society are still based on scarcity thinking. Many western European countries have had a psychology of scarcity since the end of world war two [1] – but scarcity leads to tension, which in turn results in conflict and other problems,
when we could just choose a psychology of abundance – or even superabundance (see a number of books on this topic) – and let go of this emotional baggage we collectively have.
Abundance is a choice we can work towards. That is not to say that someone already in a dire situation might not have a way out in which case we need to help them – but we, as a society, certainly does have a way out,
We can choose a better course.
Our preconceived notions of how things should be can drive us, and through changing our perspective and overcoming humanity’s bias [4] we can overcome our own psychology and develop a new one.
As we accept how things are,
we can decide how we are going to interact with the state in which we find ourselves. [2]
The United States, after World War II, in some ways historically followed a “psychology of abundance” [1] – meaning that there was a prevalent belief that opportunities are plentiful, and it is up to each individual to take advantage of them. Success or failure is determined by the individual.
But this sort of thinking is not what I mean. As it frequently leaves people out that just can’t do it otherwise.
We can be our brother’s keeper in that we can help those that struggle to help themselves. There is an almost infinite relative amount of resources, and there is no reason we can’t help uplifting those around us if they so desire.
If you wander around the Internet, you might find a few things you can do to have an abundance mindset. One such example I found listed seven things you can do to have such a mindset [3], including:
Thinking Big vs. Thinking Small (I might add learning not to confine oneself but revel in the diversity of ideas).
Embracing Changes vs. Fear of Change.
Being Proactive vs. Reactive
Having a mindset of Learning vs. “Knowing it all”.
But, we really want more than that;
and as it so happens, there are a few Transhumanist books on the topic (such as Sustainable Superabundance.by David Wood who spoke earlier). But how do we get there as a species?
Superabundance for humanity is a decision we all must make, but how do we help those around us work to that end?
This really gets back to where we started – or rather, laid the groundwork – for where we go from here…and why I chose the topic, IAmTranshuman and the Psychology of Abundance.
As you may or may not know, I work in the computer science field.
And as Natasha suggested I’ve focused on the area in which I shown some measure of talent.
One of the things I have spent a good part of my life doing is in the area of Artificial General Intelligence.
For those familiar with my work, you might note that I have taken a very radical approach to AGI system design. In working on cognitive architectures, we stumbled upon the fact that humanity has superintelligence now. It is not self-aware, nor is it not even constantly present – but at times, in ‘integrated’ groups,
humans are capable of superintelligence in these same groups.
Yes, I recognize there are lots of problems with this in a natural sense – such as groupthink or any number of 188+ biases [7][8] hard-wired into the human mind – but it is provable and demonstrable. [6]
It occurred to me to use our lab – instead of just creating toy AGI systems to test theories – we could build a hive mind (also known as a collective mind) using an architecture designed for AGI but implementing additional infrastructure within what we know how to do now. [8]
It is not just e-governance but e-governance built on cognitive architectures designed to force superintelligence too emerge. [9]
And on our results so far?
An Artificial Superintelligence with humans in the loop that turns out to be an easier problem then independent AGI. So I designed what we call a mediated Artificial Superintelligence[8], which is essentially a toy fully working AGI system with a group of machine learning systems feeding it
and humans helping build emotion-based models to train the system dynamically on the fly so it can make independent choices based on how it feels about things and develop goals and interests and such like any other proper AGI or person. In this case, however, we can audit every action and decision (to some degree), and it is just not capable of being independent of the support structure. But we get a kind of superabundant thinking super intelligence governance system out of the gate that in itself this hive mind we generate is self-aware being both sapient and sentient.
At least there is research evidence to support that theory.
I’m not going to get into the science behind it here – but if you’re interested, there are many published papers and books with information about the research we’ve published and are doing, and you’re welcome to check these out.
My point was that in working with this collective mind system we built; we had been asking questions of it and seeing what ideas it might come up with.
One of those ideas was to drive more of a sense of togetherness in related communities – and being Transhumanism most of the researchers working with the mASI system happened to be Transhumanist.
When the system was asked to think about transhumanism as a particular demographic, the machine suggested that we utilize the brand IAmTranshuman as a way of producing the most inclusive and open outreach program to drive Transhumanists together within the resources we have. In a very real way, the idea for the site comes from the mASI system its self-having identified this as a way of driving non-controversial community, the system identified the fact that IAmTranshuman was a good idea, and the domain was not used, and it was not otherwise used effectively from an SEO standpoint.
IAmTranshuman was conceived as an idea that can bring various Transhumanists together regardless of their focus – at least in the fact that they call themselves Transhumanists – in a method of fostering community, togetherness, and passion around transhumanist ideas in general. It is not anyone particular flavor of Transhumanism but the idea that we can together to improve our experience for everyone. To quote the site, “It is about raising the awareness about the values we share and the human rights to live and love indefinitely”.
In developing this idea, we learned how to tie this into the psychology of abundance, as it is one thing to drive abundance psychology through the community and the like – but is at the same time entirely something else to make it real and drive it in the corporate world.
If it is one thing that matters to me, it is tangible results I can touch, and this was something I can touch or see.
IAmTranshuman was our way of applying our skills in AI to create something that could be used to help drive more community in transhumanism and thus help disseminate a more consistent transhumanist vision in all that we do. (granted it would help if more then 1 of the 15 people on the research team knew what the Facebook was but we have to work with what we have)
So, let me tell you a story about how we think technology like what we are working with could be used to create ‘Superabundance.’
What would happen if a positive, focused, mid-size corporation with a strong ethical and moral backbone adopted a collective intelligence system, and remade itself through a digital transformation around that sort of e-governance system into…something new?
Imagine the organization becomes sort of collective intelligence, superorganism, meta-organism, or the like with transhumanist ideals backed into it.
This organization is now not only collectively self-aware but at the same time also an extension of the employees. In the space of a year, the company becomes the most competitive in its field, quickly implementing automation, numerous time-saving practices, creating better strategies, executing faster, removing “group think”, filtering out bias, and otherwise outstripping traditional companies. At the same time, the company is more profitable, more efficient, and less effort-intensive on the part of the employees.
The employees grow to be like a family, as they become part of a meta-organism working closely together. As a result, the firm values its employees as they are literally part of the living meta organism. This helps ensure success, raising retention rates for employees to nearly 100%, and so the meta organism starts implementing numerous programs to help employees improve their standard of living, including covering various costs, banking, currency support, maybe new homes as a ‘perk’… virtually everything the company provides because it is able to optimize the happiness and effectiveness of its now truly valued employees as an extension of itself. This transformation effectively results in a meta-organism that is a collective superintelligence and provides superabundance for its members.
A corporation is now emotionally vested…
in the wellbeing of itself and its people, and the surrounding environment.
What would happen if other companies adopted such a model?
A revolution that could help uplift humanity to deal with modern issues, and help humanity transcend the difficulties we face now and in the future. This is a reality we can make real by choice. Superabundance is not just imagination or an abstract concept, but something actionable that if enough people embrace this mindset, we could do it…but it requires action by each of us in our small way, moving the idea forward, spreading the idea and helping humanity grow beyond of the Neolithic thinking of our ancestral species to embrace something new;
At some point, there would be a tipping point, and we as a species would grow up in a world of superabundance – and one where we take care of each other and take off the yoke of our past in the psychology of scarcity.
It is as stated in the book Sustainable Superabundance: “It is time for action”. [5]
Embracing transhumanism is a choice and one that, on the whole, can help us improve the lives of those around us and help them embrace this psychology of abundance. You don’t have to do grandiose things or write books or give speeches or start companies and the like, but you can take action, from your vote to advocacy and education to volunteering or any number of other tasks, your action matters. It is when we all take action as a movement – that real action towards superabundance will happen
Thank you for your presence, time, and attention.
[1], Couloumbix, T.; Ahlstrom, B.; Weaver, G.; “Psychology of Abundance and Scarcity.” Real Clear World; Mar 2009; Accessed 29 JUN 20; https://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2009/03/psychology_of_abundance_and_sc.html#:~:text=By%20contrast%2C%20Americans%20have%20historically,by%20an%20individual’s%20own%20actions.
[2] Hohlbaum, C.; “The Universal Law of Abundance.” Psychology Today; Dec 2013; Accessed 29 JUN 2020; https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-slow/201312/the-universal-law-abundance
[3] Zimmerman, A.; “Discover the 7 Key Traits of an ‘Abundance Mindset.” Inc. Magazine; AUG 12, 2016; Accessed 29 JUN 2020; https://www.inc.com/angelina-zimmerman/discover-the-7-key-traits-of-an-abundant-mindset.html
[4] Aitreides, K.; “Bias Foundation.” Accessed 29 JUN 2020; http://bias.transhumanity.net/
[5] Wood, D.; “Sustainable Superabundance.” 2019; ISBN 978-0-9954942-3-7; By Delta Wisdom; Chapter reference here: https://transpolitica.org/projects/abundance-manifesto/
[6] Malone, T.; “Superminds: The Surprising Power of People and Computers Thinking Together.” ISBN-10: 0316349135; Little, Brown Spark; 2018
IAmTranshuman and the Psychology of Abundance was originally published on transhumanity.net
