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Transhumanism h+

Heyo

Heyo

Veteran Member
mikkel_the_dane said:
You really should try to be really unlucky in this world. Yes, I know you have some bad luck, but overall you and I are lucky.
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On a global scale, we are the 1%. Living in countries with functioning healthcare, a tight social net and excellent education.
 
PureX

PureX

Veteran Member
Heyo said:
Most of those aren't technologies (or "functional knowledge") and those which are, are either net positive or at least amoral. Only our ignorance (sometimes wilful) has turned them against us.
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Non-applied knowledge is irrelevant to the question of it's value. Especially non-applied functional knowledge. The point being that if we know how to do something, we will do it regardless of how unwise doing it would appear to be beforehand. For some reason, being able to do something is far more enticing to we humans in and of itself, than the likely value we would derive from having done it. So we do it, anyway. And this is going to get us into deep trouble, sooner or later.
 
MikeF

MikeF

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
mikkel_the_dane said:
I can't find the study. Got any links?
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No links. Simply my subjective opinion on what I observe, personally and through the historical record.

Do you consider the overall standard of living to have improved, remained the same, or worsened over the course of recorded history?
 
mikkel_the_dane

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
MikeF said:
No links. Simply my subjective opinion on what I observe, personally and through the historical record.

Do you consider the overall standard of living to have improved, remained the same, or worsened over the course of recorded history?
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Well, we have also become better at war and better at disrupting the environment, so my answer is that the jury is still out on that one.

If you are rational, you know when the most rational answer is: We don't know.
 
MikeF

MikeF

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
mikkel_the_dane said:
Well, we have also become better at war and better at disrupting the environment, so my answer is that the jury is still out on that one.

If you are rational, you know when the most rational answer is: We don't know.
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Really? You can imagine no way in which to quantify these things?

You state that we are better at war, and that is certainly true. However, in all war, regardless of means, we are still talking about dead and injured. Can we not quantify the number of dead and injured to see at what point in history war had the greatest impact on overall standards of living and wellbeing?
 
mikkel_the_dane

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
MikeF said:
Really? You can imagine no way in which to quantify these things?

You state that we are better at war, and that is certainly true. However, in all war, regardless of means, we are still talking about dead and injured. Can we not quantify the number of dead and injured to see at what point in history war had the greatest impact on overall standards of living and wellbeing?
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Then you find the study. You seem to believe you are right, so you do the work.
 
W

Wildswanderer

Veteran Member
The Hammer said:
What are your thoughts on the philosophy of transhumanism?

Transhumanism - Wikipedia

"Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity and cognition....
Some transhumanists believe that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with abilities so greatly expanded from the current condition as to merit the label of posthuman beings."

Do you think this is a good idea, or a dangerous endeavor? Using technology to fundamentally change oneself to something other than human?
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Every science fiction movie ever says this is a bad idea.
No thanks!
 
PureX

PureX

Veteran Member
Every time we think we have solved a problem using technology, we find we have created two more problems that we didn't used to have. Our functional knowledge is failing us because what we really needed to solve our problems was wisdom, not more technology. And in fact, we don't even have the wisdom to see that it's wisdom that we need. So we keep chasing after our stupidity with more technology, and we end up with more problems then we had to start with.
 
Subduction Zone

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
PureX said:
Every time we think we have solved a problem using technology, we find we have created two more problems that we didn't used to have. Our functional knowledge is failing us because what we really needed to solve our problems was wisdom, not more technology. And in fact, we don't even have the wisdom to see that it's wisdom that we need. So we keep chasing after our stupidity with more technology, and we end up with more problems then we had to start with.
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Yes, we have new problems. But we also have a better life. Are you willing to go back to the technology of biblical times or before that? Yes, when we learn more we learn of new problems that we did not even know existed before. Why is this a bad thing?
 
PureX

PureX

Veteran Member
Subduction Zone said:
Yes, we have new problems. But we also have a better life. Are you willing to go back to the technology of biblical times or before that? Yes, when we learn more we learn of new problems that we did not even know existed before. Why is this a bad thing?
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It's a bad thing because we are now on the precipice of self-annihilation. "Oh, but we're all living better lives!" Billions of us are not living lives that are significantly better than in the past. And in the past there were only a few billion of us. So the number of those struggling for the basics remains the same. No improvement there. There's just billions more of us, now, using up all the technical advances and resources for ourselves. Is that really such an improvement? Especially when it now threatens the existence of all the humans on the planet? And many other life forms as well?
 
Subduction Zone

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
mikkel_the_dane said:
Well, that is an old one. So the modern one is this. Imagine for a naturalistic view of wetware that we could do all of that with hardware. Now all of my wetware is hardware. Am I still me? ;)
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We have already been doing it. Do glasses make a person not a person? Clothing? If one can't walk does an artificial limb that replaces a leg mean that one is no longer human? When it comes to the brain it will have to start with verry simple aids. And people will say "Of course he is still human". There may never be a hard line between human and non-human when it come to technological enhancements.
 
mikkel_the_dane

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
Subduction Zone said:
We have already been doing it. Do glasses make a person not a person? Clothing? If once can't walk does an artificial limb that replaces a leg mean that one is no longer human? When it comes to the brain it will have to start with verry simple aids. And people will say "Of course he is still human". There may never be a hard line between human and non-human when it come to technological enhancements.
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Yet the opposite could also be true.
Imaging taking a lot of pictures. One of your mother at age 18. Then your mother's mother and so on. Continue back in time and at some point you would say: Well, my mothers mothers mothers ... is not human.
 
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