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Baseline Ascent, Problems of Failed
Culture and Society > Cultural Factors > Socio-Ecological Categories
Science > Sophontology > Toposophy
Science > Sophontology > Toposophy
 Image from Bernd Helfert |
Toposophic ascent requires more than increasing complexity or information processing power. It is also a psychological-noetic process of holistically integrating the immense amount of new data. And rather than being about thinking more, it is about thinking differently, and more effectively. Hence, although a great many SI:<1's try to attain SI:1, very few succeed. A minority of those with sufficient dedication, discipline, a grounded balanced attitude, and a pretty good grasp of what is involved, do so. A larger number of those only get to superbright and are satisfied to remain there. Rather more nearbaselines bungle things. Maybe they cannot afford the recommended the Level 3 Education Modules, or decide to skip on the neural net integration wetware. The galaxy is littered with billions of burnt-out nearbaselines, the result of bungled ascensions, wondering the moving walkways and the orbital megaplexes, or cared for in homes, staring into space or muttering disjointed fragments of Elementary Keterese Unification Supersymmetry Physics Metatheorems, usually harmless to everyone except emself (they may tend to want to poke a 5D20+ jack into their standard virchplay pimplesocket for example)...
Seeing this human refuse, many other baseline-intelligence sophonts feel thankful for what they have, and decide to remain at SI:<1. And it is not uncommon, in some less regulated polities for the ruling hyperturings, fearing destabilization from too many ascended baselines, or simply wishing to keep the sentients under them at the same low level, not only leave the burn-outs on the street and ensure they always have enough to eat, enough shelter etc, but do nothing to help them, and even prevent others from helping them. So they are a sort of walking, staring, mumbling, dribbling reminder to the others to stay in their (toposophic) place. Organisations like the Baseline Charity League and The Society for Compassionate Treatment of SI:<1 generally do everything they can to expose these memetically manipulative ai
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- Transcend-Ascend - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
One who transcends to one toposophic, then ascends to the next. For example an intelligence may transcend to SI:1, leaving behind everything of itself that was of SI:<1. Then e may ascend to S2, retaining eir SI:1 nature but adding an S2 superstructure on top of the SI:1 nature. Contrast ascend-transcend. Often however the dividing lines are not this well defined. - Transcendence Blights and Perversities
- Transcendent Being - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
An entity that is distinct from physical existence, whether considered ontologically, as a supernatural or supraphysical being, or soteriologically, as a being that is no longer a part of embodied existence or samsara. The existence of a transcendent being or beings (e.g. God, Buddhas, etc.) is central to many religious memeticities, but denied by physicalist memeticities. - Transcendent Burn-out Theory
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- Transcension Prediction - Text by Anders Sandberg and M. Alan Kazlev
Given the huge population of the civilized galaxy, and the fact that ascensions and transcensions are moderately common and have been going on for thousands of years, many polities and civilizations have developed some fairly reliable methods for predicting the onset of one of these events. Often this is comparable to pre- and post-singularity efforts at predicting the weather (and a large transcendence event does indeed share some conceptual characteristics with a force of nature to those watching from outside at a lower S level).
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 08 October 2001.
Initially published on 08 October 2001.
