with examples from fiction and from real history.
Ideally, if completed, such a taxonomy would allow one to quickly and concisely describe many of the features of a work of speculative fiction or science fiction or futurist scenario, in the manner of Geek Code.
Classes of intelligent aliens
Aliens, by proximity and contact intent
No intelligent aliens exist
Aliens exist, but only in other 'dimensions' or scales not (presently) easily accessible from/to our space
Aliens exist, but so far away so as to be currently irrelevant
Aliens who may be watching humans but who will typically not extensively contact us until we reach some 'higher level of development'
- eg Star Trek's Prime Directive (if Star Trek's humans were aliens / if we were aliens in Star Trek)
- eg
Aliens who may be aware of and able to contact humans but who don't care because they are much more advanced
Aliens who could or do contact humans but who choose not to
Aliens who could or do contact humans but who fear extensive contact
Aliens who are aware of humans and seeking to interact with us, but it takes a long time
Aliens are already here, but in a mode of physical existence 'orthogonal' to our own
Aliens who are unaware of humans and would interact with us if they were aware
Aliens visited Earth in the past but left and have no further presence
and did not substantially manipulate humans
and substantially manipulated or created human biology
and substantially memetically manipulated humans
and aliens and humans share a common intelligent ancestor
Alien-like AI will exist
Aliens are already here, covertly influencing events on earth via conspiracies
Aliens, by military power
- Aliens who have a nearly infinite military advantage
- Star Trek's Q
- eg Anders Sandberg's Ex Tempore
- eg 'gods' who can manipulate the material world, but who exist in a spiritual plane that we cannot manipulate, or not very much
- eg higher dimensional beings to whom our space is like a flat piece of paper
- Aliens who are ahead of us sufficiently to probably win a war, but not so far that a win is practically guaranteed
- Aliens who are ahead of us sufficiently to probably win a war, but not so far as to make that cheap/certain/easy/desirable for them
- eg the Mikin in Vinge's Conquest by Default
- Aliens who are ahead of us in some areas, and behind us in others
- Aliens who are in a very similar situation as us
- Aliens who are behind us sufficiently that we could probably win a war, but not so far as to make that cheap/certain/easy
- Aliens who are behind us sufficiently that we could probably win a war, but not so far that a win is practically guaranteed
- Aliens who pose no offensive threat, but who have some sort of defensive advantage (ie we are safe from them, and they are safe from us)
- Aliens who are have a nearly infinite military disadvantage (eg they are in the stone age)
Aliens, by attitude towards humans
Strongly positive
Aliens who strongly value the well-being of humans or whose ethics require them to assist humans.
Slightly positive
Aliens who derive enjoyment or some possibly transitory strategic or commercial benefit from positive interactions with humans or from humanity's well-being, but who don't value the well-being of humans as an end in itself, or at least not an important end.
Don't care
Mixed
Within the class of aliens being considered, there are factions with widely varying attitudes; at least one faction is strongly positive or negative, and at least one faction is at least weakly on the opposite polarity.
- eg AIs in Orion's Arm
- eg the Stables, Volatiles, and Ultimates in Dan Simmons's Fall of Hyperior (quotes: [1])
Slightly negative
Aliens who feel that they would be better off if humans didn't exist or if they could minimize their interactions with humans, but who would not hurt humans just because of this.
Slightly negative : disgust
Aliens who feel that they are or could be contaminated with impurity, in a physical or in an abstract sense, via interactions with humans.
Strongly negative
Aliens who would harm or enslave individual and/or all humans if they had the chance.
Alien communication
Communication with aliens is initially difficult, but possible
- eg the buggers in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game
Alien individual/collective mentality
Aliens are individually conscious
Aliens are a hivemind
- eg the Buggers in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game
Aliens are a borg
The aliens could be individually conscious but typically form a hive mind.
- eg Star Trek's Borg
- eg the Tines from Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep
Alien consciousness mentality
Aliens are conscious like us
Aliens are zombies
- eg Peter Watts's Blindsight
What else?
Alien rationality
Aliens are more rational/have more willpower than us
- eg the Vulcans of Star Trek
Aliens are less rational/have less willpower than us
- eg Shiman's of Vinge's Original Sin
Alien culture
Aliens are religious
Aliens are not religious
What else?
Alien size
Aliens are much smaller than us
Aliens are about our size
Aliens are much larger than us
Alien speed
Aliens are much slower than us
Aliens are about our speed
Aliens are much faster than us
Alien lifespan
Aliens lifespan is much shorter than ours
Aliens lifespan is about the same as ours
Aliens lifespan is much longer than ours
Alien's own sense of the 'alien-ness' of humans
Eg, as a human, in history, some people have considered people of other races to be less than people, while others have considered all humans to be equals. Most humans think of many terrestrial tetrapods as very different from us, although all tetrapods share many similarities; bilateral symmetry, air-breathing, necks, a stiff spine, four limbs each with fingers/toes, as well an innumerable other similarites not only in body plan but also especially in genetics, biochemistry, microbiology, and in the basic physiology of various organs. In fact, it is said that we share about half of our DNA with banana plants [2]; almost 50% of our genes match those of fruit flies [3]; and about 20% of our genes match those of a weed [4]. This raises the issue that sense of how 'alien' different organisms are compared to ourselves may be rather arbitrary, and therefore, that 'aliens' might have a different take on it than we do.
Aliens think of humans as themselves
Aliens think of humans not as separate individuals, but as a human would think of their past or future self.
Aliens think of humans as family members
Aliens think of humans as very closely related individuals, with shared interests and 'natural' affiliation.
Aliens think of humans as other people
Aliens think of humans the way that contemporary non-racist humans think of other humans (see eg Star Trek).
Aliens think of humans the way that racist humans think of other races
Aliens think of humans the way that humans think of other primate species
In this and all of the following, note that the aliens may or may not have the assumption of less intelligence.
Aliens think of humans the way that humans think of other animals that we might have as pets
Aliens think of humans the way that humans think of other non-mammalian animals that we would not have as pets
Aliens think of humans the way that humans think of other macroscopic multicellular organisms eg plants
Aliens think of humans the way that humans think of organisms from different kingdoms, eg fungi
Aliens think of humans the way that humans think of potentially non-living physical processes
Aliens think of humans the way that humans imagine creepy horror story un-living strange entities
think Lovecraft, ghosts, etc.
Aliens think of humans as more alien than we can conceive
Possibly WE are the ones who anthropomorphize to a ridiculous extreme, and the aliens would group all of the above in a manner similar to how we would think of an alien who thinks of a human as having the same familiarity as their past or future self.
Classes of conceivable laws of physics relating to consciousness, thought, computation
Constructability of artificial consciousness
Conscious AI is constructible, and a mind can be copied perfectly
Conscious AI is constructible, and a mind cannot be copied perfectly but can be 'dubbed' or copied imperfectly
Conscious AI is constructible, but a mind cannot be copied but it can be moved
- eg in Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom humans can be backed up but there don't appear to be multiple copies of the same human
Conscious AI is constructible, but a mind cannot be copied nor moved
Conscious AI is not constructible; consciousness requires a biological substrate or a 'soul' which cannot be produced by material means or at least by entities of our class
Zombies
Zombies are defined here are creepy, intelligent yet unconscious entities.
'zombies' are impossible
'zombies' are possible
'zombies' are possible that can exactly mimic conscious entities
'zombies' are possible temporarily, but eventually some of them become conscious
Toposophy
Links (and credit for coining the term 'toposophy'):
Existence of forms of intelligent mentality
There is only one form of intelligent mentality
There are multiple forms of mentality, but only one toposophic level
There is no form of mind qualitatively more advanced than ours.
Here, 'toposophic level' means an ordering relation between mentalities where the greater mentality is qualitatively 'strictly more intelligent' than the lesser, in the same way that humans are more intelligent than frogs.
There is no mentality vastly more intelligent than ours
There are mentalities vastly more intelligent than ours, but in a quantitative (continuous), not a qualitative (discrete), way
There are a finite number of toposophic levels
There are an infinite number of toposophic levels
Distinct forms of intelligent mentality within one toposophic level
There is an intelligent toposophic level within which exists multiple distinct forms of mentality
There is no intelligent toposophic level within which exists multiple distinct forms of mentality
Total ordering of toposophic levels
(only if there are multiple toposophic levels, although i suppose technically a single toposophic level forms a total order)
All toposophic levels form a total order
For any two toposophic levels, one is 'more intelligent' than the other.
All toposophic levels form a partial order but not a total order
There exist two distinct toposophic levels such that neither is 'more intelligent' than the other, where by 'distinct toposophic level' it is meant that there is some third mentality that is 'strictly more intelligent' than one of these levels, but not the other; or there is some a third mentality that is 'strictly less intelligent' than one of these levels, but not the other.
Toposophic feasibility
(only if there are higher toposophic levels that can be created from the material world)
There are higher toposophic levels, but they cannot be created from the material world
There is some other part of reality in which higher beings can exist or can be created, but we cannot manipulate that part of reality in a manner so as to be ablet to create such beings.
- eg the gods of many religions
There are higher toposophic levels that can be created materially
Trancension and ascension
Only if multiple toposophic levels exist.
No mind can transition between different toposophic levels
Our minds cannot transition to any different type of mentality
Our minds can transition to a different mentality, but cannot transition to any different toposophic level
And we cannot maintain 'ourselves' if we transition to a different mentality
And we can maintain 'ourselves' if we transition to a different mentality
Our minds cannot transition to any higher toposophic level
It is possible for a mind of a higher toposophic level to exist, and perhaps we will even be able to build them, but "toposophic ascension" is not possible; we cannot cause our own minds to reach this level.
Our minds can ascend to some higher toposophic level
Toposophic ascension chains
Inspired by Orion's Arm: Toposophy.
There exists only finitely long ascension chains
There exists an infinitely long ascension chain
Toposophic transcension vs ascension
(only if there are higher toposophic levels)
Only toposophic transcension, not ascension is possible
see Orion's Arm: transcension.
That is to say, if we transcend our minds, they invariable lose our previous goals and values and concerns and we wouldn't recognize the result as a continuation of ourself anymore (even if it would).
Toposophic ascension, not ascension is possible
Toposophic uniqueness
Are there any intelligent toposophic levels which hold multiple non-equivalent mentalities, 'non-equivalent' meaning that a mind cannot be converted from one mentality to the other without 'losing itself' (in the sense of transcension vs ascension)?
Our own toposophic level holds multiple non-equivalent mentalities, but no others do
Our own toposophic level holds multiple non-equivalent mentalities, and some toposophic level other than our own holds multiple non-equivalent mentalities
Our own toposophic level does not hold multiple non-equivalent mentalities, and some toposophic level other than our own holds multiple non-equivalent mentalities
Toposophic convergence
Does there exist four distinct mentalities A,B,C,D such that A < B,C < D under the toposophic relation, and there exists an ascension chain from A to B and from A to C and from B to D but not from C to D, and also B and C are non-equivalent?
If so, then some ascensions limit future choice.
Inspired by Orion's Arm: Toposophy.
Interpretability of thought
Minds can be mechanically 'read' and the thoughts read can be interpreted by an unintelligent machine
Minds can be mechanically 'written' but not read and the thought to be written can be created by an unintelligent machine
Minds can be mechanically 'read' and 'written' but the thoughts read can only be interpreted by placing them into another mind, although thoughts to be written can be created by an unintelligent machine
Minds can be mechanically 'read' and 'written' and the thoughts read can be interpreted by an unintelligent machine, but the thoughts to be written can only be created by reading from an intelligent mind
Minds can be mechanically 'read' and 'written' and the thoughts read can be interpreted by an unintelligent machine, and the thoughts written can be created by an unintelligent machine
Minds cannot be 'written' but can be 'read' but only through interaction with another mind (eg thoughts cannot be digitally stored)
Minds cannot be 'read' but can be 'written' but only through interaction with another mind (eg thoughts cannot be digitally stored)
Minds cannot be 'read' and 'written' but only through interaction with another mind (eg thoughts cannot be digitally stored)
Some combination of the above
Mind reading resistance
(only if minds can be read)
Mind reading cannot be 'resisted'
Mind reading can be 'resisted' absolutely
Beings who know how to resist mind-reading can resist it every time.
Mind reading resistance can be taught
Mind reading resistance is a physical property of the brain, and is not natural but must be bioengineered
Mind reading can be 'resisted' relatively
Beings who know how to resist mind-reading can resist it unless their resistance is 'overwhelmed' by some process that requires effort on the part of another being, not just a powerful machine.
Mind writing resistance
(only if minds can be written to)
(same branches as mind-reading)
P ?= NP
P = NP
P = NP
P = NP, but is still infeasible for some reason (algorithm unknown, or high degree polynomial, or large polynomial coefficients or constant)
P = NP, feasibly, but practical trapdoor functions are possible
P = NP, feasibly, and practical trapdoor functions do not exist
P != NP
Exotic misc relating to consciousness and intelligence and computation
Zones of Thought
- eg in Vinge's Zones of Thought series, at a given point in time, a given spatial region may have limits placed on the computational power of processes occurring within that region
Classes of conceivable laws of physics (excluding consciousness and intelligence)
The game theoretic implications of the laws of phyics
Cooperation tends to be a good strategy
Cooperation tends to be a bad strategy
The mass destructive/offensive/defensive/military/strategic implications of the laws of physics
Anonymous mass destruction can be cheaply, quickly and unpredictably targeted at any being with whom you have interacted
- this is often an implication of 'exotic reality-warping', see below
Anonymous mass destruction can be cheaply, quickly and unpredictably targeted at any physical location whose coordinates are known
Nearly perfect defense against blunt physical attack (as opposed to eg viruses) is possible
nearly perfect defense via copying
nearly perfect defense via teleportation at the first sign of danger
nearly perfect defense via inpenetrable structures
Spatial separation
Speed of light absolutely prevents fast travel or information transport
Speed of light absolutely prevents fast travel but fast information transport is possible
Speed of light prevents fast travel or information transport except for wormholes, which are not practically constructible
Speed of light prevents fast travel or information transport except for wormholes, which are practically constructible
Speed of light can be circumvented by something like 'warp drive'
Mass use of teleportation and/or persistent 'doors' between arbitrarily far locations is possible
Exotic possibilities
This section is not mutually exclusive.
Exotic spatial possibilities
No exotic spatial possibilities
'Parallel universes' but either there is only a small number of directly accessible ones, or transport between them is difficult, or it is difficult to transport to very different parallel universes
There are 'parallel universes' and mass use of teleportation between 'parallel universes' is possible in a way that allows cheap spatial expansion via parallel universes
'Bags of holding' are possible
Exotic time-travel
Time-travel in which killing your grandfather is prevented if you should try
Time-travel in which killing your grandfather 'creates' a parallel world but does not alter the time-traveller
sub-possibility: a place 'outside of time':
Time-travel in which killing your grandfather is dangerous to the time-traveller
- eg the movie Millenium (1989)
- eg the movie Back To The Future
Exotic probability alteration
Exotic 'reality-alteration' via mental action
- eg The Lathe of Heaven
- eg what was that comic where that human fought with this alien who had this power in an alternate reality, and eventually won by imagining the other guy imagining his own defeat?
- eg Jeffrey A. Carver. Reality School: In the Entropy Zone
- eg see also http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealityWarper
Exotic mental/spiritual/supernatural interaction with the material world
This section is not mutually exclusive.
Psychic phenomena
Magic
Religion phenomena / Gods
Ghosts
Other supernatural
Are we in a simulation?
simulation todos
todo simulation taxonomy: http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2009/06/welcome-to-machine-part-5-simulation.html
hard, soft: hard: we are actually in the simulation soft: holodeck complete, partial: complete: our mental processes are being simulated; partial: inputs are being fed to our brains/bodies active, passive: active: we actually have free will in the sense that our cognitive processes determine our actions; passive: our own 'actions' are being external computed in a mechanical mechanical manner, and fed to our minds original vs replacement psychologies Communal and individual simulations: communal: every 'person' is actually a different conscious entity; individual: only one conscious entity is being simulated, the rest are zombies (there is also a mixed option here) invalid combinations of the above: http://web.archive.org/web/20110928050016/http://simulism.org/Talk:Consciousness_and_the_Different_Types_of_Simulation
Other exotic possibilities on the nature of reality
- permutation city todo: the key observation is that in Permutation City, it has been discovered that a person does not 'die'; whenever one faces a situation that would seem very likely to cause death, a ridiculously improbable thing happens to 'save' them, eg waking up and finding that everything was just a simulation; the supposed explanation is that physical reality is just a large set of numbers, and consciousness just 'tries' to find the best interpretation of those numbers (see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_symmetry#What_it_means )
- Boltzmann brain
Future of humanity
humanity todos
todos
todo existential risks: http://www.openthefuture.com/2006/12/an_eschatological_taxonomy.html
todo Global Scenario Group scenarios:
http://www.greattransition.org/explore/scenarios http://www.polestarproject.org/globalscen.html http://www.tellus.org/integrated-scenarios/taxonomy-of-the-future
http://www.bohemiandrive.com/comics/npwil/2.html
humanity continues to exist
humanity ceases to exist
links:
humans stop reproducing
voluntarily
eg the webcomic Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life
todos
more on alien culture