Category Archives: intelligence

An Essential but Threadbare Blanket

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Jim Langcuster

Sociology was one of my college majors. It is the butt of jokes, derided as one of the most impractical of college majors. Yet it taught me to see the world and even to think about it in a different … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Evolution, Culture, Evolution, Humanism, intelligence, Networked Human Exoskeleton, Religion and Culture, Religion and Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Improvised Genius

Posted on May 22, 2022 by Jim Langcuster

I have expended a lot of “ink” in this forum explaining what I have come to call the “networked human exoskeleton.” As I have mentioned previously, this idea resembles in some respects the Catholic priest and philosopher Teilhard de Chardin’s … Continue reading →

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A Pandoric Human Improvisation

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Jim Langcuster

I finished a couple of degrees in communication without ever developing a keen fascination with language – until now, almost 40 years later. We depend on language. It is arguably the most indispensable part of what I have come to … Continue reading →

Posted in creative intelligence, Cultural Evolution, Evolution, existentialism, intelligence, Jim Langcuster, Religion and Science, Religious Faith | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Our Universe as a Dark Forest of Synthetic Predators

Posted on November 30, 2021 by Jim Langcuster

I love salient quotes and this one featured  in a recent Wired article dealing with the nature of intelligent alien life in the universe really expressed what may be at stake for our species as we extend our technological tentacles … Continue reading →

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The Feather as Evidence of Transcendence?

Posted on November 22, 2021 by Jim Langcuster

If convergent evolution theory is viable, there may be Star Trek-type humanoid species scattered all through the cosmos. That is what one University of Cambridge astrobiologist believes based on this theory. Simon Comway Morris, who specializes in  evolutionary palaeobiology  at … Continue reading →

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Walking in the Footsteps of Mortimer J. Adler

Posted on November 17, 2021 by Jim Langcuster

Classical education is a subject that has always fascinated me, at least, at the point in life when I realized that my education was woefully lacking. I had watched a number of films featuring  erudite characters – people who could … Continue reading →

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Building on Heidegger

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Jim Langcuster

Lately, I have been devoting some thought to Heidegger’s concept of facticity – how we bring to being what is bound up in what I have come to call our “networked exoskeleton.” What I mean is the way language, technology, … Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Generals

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Jim Langcuster

I suspect that every American man my age not only remembers when the movie “Patton,” starring George C. Scott, was released in 1970 but also, at least, secretly, harbors a deep admiration for this maverick general. Within the last few … Continue reading →

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Confronting an Alien Intelligence.

Posted on November 3, 2021 by Jim Langcuster

I just downloaded and began reading the newly published book, The Age of AI: And Our Human Future, yesterday and I have not been disappointed. The nonagenarian Henry Kissinger originally was disinclined to ruminate over the implications of Artificial Intelligence. … Continue reading →

Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Cultural Evolution, Evolution, Futurology, intelligence, Jim Langcuster, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Paucity of Intelligent Life

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Jim Langcuster

Reading this article about the prevalence of intelligent life in our galaxy, the thought occurred to me: This effectively nixes the hope of millions of us Trekker nerds that our Terran descendants will use their vast knowledge of and experience … Continue reading →

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