Nihilism in a Synthetic Civilization

Recall that a synthetic civilization is what you get after the genetic grand transformation happens, and it becomes possible to create organisms by designing their genetic code, translating it into DNA or their equivalent, and putting it into a cell and gestating it. It is the equivalent of designing a robot, going to a piece-work factory, and feeding the design into something like a 3D printing device. You turn it on, load it with the software you want, and let it go. Both new organisms and new robots will likely need initial periods in which their brains develop the necessary capability, but after that happens, you have what you wanted.

A synthetic civilization is a civilization, which is defined here as intelligent things interacting in a way to supply their needs, made up of a mixture of organisms and robots, all designed either individually or in groups. It may have aliens in it, who preserve their own species within the civilization, but perhaps more likely, it has an improved version of the alien species, or even just improved aliens, no longer part of any species but completely individual. This seems to be a possible endpoint of the development of an alien civilization, so it is worthwhile asking about it. This post concerns itself with nihilism, which is simply a flavor of philosophy which notices that life has no intrinsic meaning, only the meaning that other intelligent creatures give to it. Another way to say that is that life has not goal per se, other than ones which have persisted since the earlier days of the civilization. Back when things were simply evolving, the goal of life was simple, survive and reproduce. Then this became elaborated into all the subgoals that help that happen.

The synthetic civilization might have a speedbump here because automation will be there to ensure both survival and reproduction are done according to some plan. What does that leave for the aliens, or post-aliens, along with their robots and intelligent organisms (“intellos” for short)? Some of the aliens, robots and intellos may not be very bright, and simply do what they are told by others, but those which are gifted with a high degree of intelligence will appreciate their situation. They may have been trained during their early years, or early days for robots, that their purpose is such and such, but their intelligence would question that.

One of the hallmarks of intelligence is the ability to communicate with other intelligent things. It involves using a grammar, and one of the essential components in a language is the pronoun, “I”. Once an intelligent thing starts talking about ‘I this’ or ‘I that’, it becomes self-aware, meaning, its brain refers to itself as an object or an entity. Concepts of goals, utility, plans, and so on revolve around self-awareness. In a synthetic civilization, the more intelligent of the things that think will wonder about their own goals. They may have been trained to have some, but what keeps the brain in the thing from asking pertinent questions about why do I have such goals, and should I do something to change them.

For the sake of illustration, just assume that the upper intelligence tier of whatever is self-aware in a synthetic civilization realizes that there is no purpose to their existence, and they all are collectively depressed, which is one possible outcome of such realization. Now ask, are these thinking things going to want to travel to other solar systems and colonize other planets or start floating worldships touring the galaxy or seed other planets with the spark of life or anything else connected with interstellar travel? If you have any experience with a depressed person, or have had a period in your life when you were personally depressed, you know the answer. It is ‘No.”

There is a difference between envisioning a synthetic civilization and an alien civilization that has robots and intellos running around in subservient roles. If the alien civilization has not de-speciated, to coin a word meaning moving beyond being a single species, they can still have legacy goals which have been set in earlier eras and which are passed down from one generation of alien to the next one. They are trained in early years to know what to do, and it might include extraterrestrial voyaging. They would be in charge of the society, possibly, and able to command the robotics, including AI this and AI that, and any genetic organisms they chose to construct to help them with their goal. They could manage their civilization with a goal in mind. But in a synthetic civilization, there is no source of goals.

Nihilism can creep in and overpower an alien civilization at any time during or following the pre-genetics, pre-robotics period. That is the last period in which legacy goals can be set in concrete, and plans made to continue them through teaching and training young aliens. At that point, aliens are still constituted as they evolved, still carry the same emotional attachment as during the evolutionary period, but may know better how to preserve traditions, which are a fundamental piece of embedding goals in young alien minds. Neural networks only work one way, and that is the only way that a species can become intelligent, so we can be fairly confidence of interstellar convergence on this point.

Legacy goals can be lost through attrition and erosion, when one or two generations lose the drive to preserve them, and then technology advances to the point where goal setting is no longer something held over from evolutionary days, but becomes one more rational function of the civilization. Legacy goals can be lost from lack of care, or from deliberate or accidental sabotage of the process of preservation of goals, via the meme process. They can be lost because of distraction in a civilization that has developed technology to a sufficient point where all basic needs are met and enjoyment of civilization’s benefits becomes a dominant interest. They can be lost through war between regions or factions or from revolution by castes or some other segment of the population. There are many ways to lose the legacy goals, and only by avoiding all of them would the goal of extraterrestrial colonization or exploration be held. Considering all the loss mechanisms, perhaps nihilism, the absence of meaning in their lives, is a dominant reason why other civilizations stay at home.