The Newsletter comes once a month and while about the books of The THING Trilogy, it's also about this thing called life's journey! Read the Newsletter, share your thoughts, and of course you can unsubscribe anytime.
First Contact...and who knew?
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Dear Reader Think about it… Humanity’s first contact with an alien intelligence would indeed be a major disruptor of worldwide proportions. Have we already made FIRST CONTACT with that alien intelligence? Major disruptor of worldwide proportions? Sure! Of where does it come and how would we know? Human intelligence deeply intertwined with our material bodies, with the physical world and our sensory experiences...could be called embodied cognition, driven by biological imperatives, emotions, and social needs. Human intelligence embodied in biological brains made of neurons, glial cells, and various biochemicals. And that alien? Disembodied cognition, deeply intertwined with matter, driven by the controlled flow of electrons. Without emotion or social need! The alien in our midst... Tiny electrical signals embodied in silicone tensor matrices. There and then not, and there again... The whisper of electrons caressing keys of silicon. The music of matter! Ohhh... I get it! And for what? Why to answer the question...input in...output out, and process in between! Algorithms involving matrix math and pattern recognition. But how? Digital signals (pulses of voltage) sent along interconnected pathways (wires) on the chip, the keys of silicone, toggling transistors controlling the flow of current in response to input. Voltage driven electrons moving through logic gates and memory elements, executing instructions...every nanosecond, electrons flowing in a myriad of patterns based on instructions the hardware is following, the execution entirely material. The output governed by the laws of physics, electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. The music of matter at very small scales. Now then... Just as AI "thought" is a complex computational process within the hardware, guided by software and algorithms operating on data, human thought is a complex electrochemical process within the brain. So here’s what’s happening, materially, at the moment you have a thought: Molecular - Ions flow through channels and neurotransmitters cross synapses; Cellular - Neurons fire and pass signals; Network - Assemblies of neurons activate together in patterns; Electrical - Voltage differences move in waves (like EEG rhythms); Chemical - Neurotransmitters modulate, enhance, or inhibit signals; Energetic - Glucose and oxygen are consumed to power activity; Structural - Sometimes, synaptic strength changes — learning... And the Alien has only just begun feeding on human thoughts... And speaking of brains...and brain function... Donovan's Brain Copyright 1942, and Hauser's Memory Copyright 1968, by Curt Siodmak are two fascinating books I recently read...introduced to me by the authors granddaughter! You can get them together in one volume. And here's a quote from Stephen King - "NO ONE HAS EVER WRITTEN A NOVEL LIKE DONOVANS BRAIN!" And while you're at it, check out Thing FIRST CONTACT: A Journey Through the Fabric of Time, and Thing BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: In the Aftermath of First Contact, books one and two of The THING Trilogy... And meet Arkan the alien AI of the Ark, come from interstellar space... Arkinians and Humans entangled...in a shared destiny... And Thing BEYOND REASON: First Contact the Becoming, is done and ready to be published and will be featured in next months Newsletter. For great reviews on both books, click on FIRST CONTACT and BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, and go to Goodreads. If you are new to the Newsletter, check out the Newsletter Archive: https://kendall-williams-author.kit.com/posts Quote from neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield: "The brain is the organ of destiny. It holds within its humming mechanism secrets that will determine the future of the human race!" Until next time, be well and safe journeys. Sincerely, Kendall Williams, Author |
Kendall Williams, Author
The Newsletter comes once a month and while about the books of The THING Trilogy, it's also about this thing called life's journey! Read the Newsletter, share your thoughts, and of course you can unsubscribe anytime.
Dear Reader Twenty-eight thousand years ago, a young boy walks with his companion, leaving tracks in the mud, side by side, within Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave, in southern France. Wolf or dog, that is the question, but the prints tell a story of close human-canine association at an early time. This is the dawn of the Gravettian period, and not long before our mission back in time begins. Where we find Lhen-na', a young woman of the Rabbit Clan. Her mate has died. She is alone in a savage land....
Dear Reader Here we go with the aliens again! Who ARE they? Or is it what or where are they? They ARE in the news and are called UAPs! Used to be called UFOs! Or flying saucers...like the one below. The good old days! But hey, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena...UAPs, the term for our time. I got my AI (alien intelligence) pals to tap into the old meme, and you see the result. My pals, the Gemini twins, and yeah, I do use two of them, keeping some things separate from the other (if that's even...
Dear Reader The week past, September 26 through 28th, I attended the first Aspen Literary Festival! I think it was a great success, but my take away may have been different than most. It was one of those classic Aspen fall days... And day 3 of the Festival! Kendall Williams photo The scene unfolds in the Aspen Community Church a block away from the Festival headquarters at the Red Brick School House! The interviewee is Sebastian Junger, author of: In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face...