Transhumanism

[livinoutdoors]

Suffering makes us human. To solve that? Well, we are already seeing the damage it does as our modern lives become too easy. To remove the self and place it in the artificial is not simply building an airplane or other technology.

 

[Danuwoa]

Suffering makes us human. To solve that? Well, we are already seeing the damage it does as our modern lives become too easy. To remove the self and place it in the artificial is not simply building an airplane or other technology.

I do t know why people think eliminating all suffering will equal happiness. Lots of evidence piling up to the contrary. We were made to struggle and overcome adversity.

 

[ambush80]

Suffering makes us human. To solve that? Well, we are already seeing the damage it does as our modern lives become too easy. To remove the self and place it in the artificial is not simply building an airplane or other technology.

What's your evidence of that?

 

[ambush80]

I do t know why people think eliminating all suffering will equal happiness. Lots of evidence piling up to the contrary. We were made to struggle and overcome adversity.

Maybe not stupid adversity like correctable blindness, where the cause is avoidable inequality. Besides, I wasn't arguing for happiness.

 

[livinoutdoors]

What's your evidence of that?

All of recorded history

 

[Danuwoa]

What's your evidence of that?

People have become more neurotic and anxious as life has gotten easier and basic needs being met has become a given.

 

[Danuwoa]

Maybe not stupid adversity like correctable blindness.

When you’re concerned with working to cover your basic needs you don’t have existential crises about the words of people you’ll never meet or whether you’re male of female.

 

[ambush80]

All of recorded history

...so far.

 

[ambush80]

When you’re concerned with working to cover your basic needs you don’t have existential crises about the words of people you’ll never meet or whether you’re make of female.

I understand where you're going. Even the most comfortable person may be afflicted by the question of "To be or not to be?"

I'll take my chances with the possibility of minimising physical suffering. If I don't like it, I can create my own hardship.

 

[Danuwoa]

I understand where you're going. Even the most comfortable person may be afflicted by the question of "To be or not to be?"

Yep. That don’t mean giving ourselves over to robots is the ticket though.

 

[ambush80]

Yep. That don’t mean giving ourselves over to robots is the ticket though.

Neanderthal gave over to the next best thing. We may not have a say in the matter.

 

[Danuwoa]

Neanderthal gave over to the next best thing. We may not have a say in the matter.

May not is doing some heavy lifting.

 

[ambush80]

May not is doing some heavy lifting.

Agreed. But short of a cataclysmic event, I don't see any stopping it. It may result in the cataclysmic event, although the AI or whatever combination of AI and human might view it like that asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.

 

[The Original Rooster]

Suffering makes us human. To solve that? Well, we are already seeing the damage it does as our modern lives become too easy. To remove the self and place it in the artificial is not simply building an airplane or other technology.

Absolutely agree.
Suffering and overcoming that suffering is a triumph of the human condition.
Would Ray Charles have been Ray Charles without his blindness? Would Mozart and Beethoven have been the classical composers they were if they had not started going deaf?
Where are the happy blues singers?
Although it's hard to quantify it, I believe these examples may not have achieved what they did had they not been faced with the suffering they conquered.
Now, that's not to say that I don't think that a pacemaker to save a life or an implant to prevent seizures isn't noble, because it is and should be done.
My point is that I believe technology should help us become better humans, not replace the parts of our humanity that we don't like or aren't good enough for our vanity.

 

[livinoutdoors]

Absolutely agree.
Suffering and overcoming that suffering is a triumph of the human condition.
Would Ray Charles have been Ray Charles without his blindness? Would Mozart and Beethoven have been the classical composers they were if they had not started going deaf?
Where are the happy blues singers?
Although it's hard to quantify it, I believe these examples may not have achieved what they did had they not been faced with the suffering they conquered.
Now, that's not to say that I don't think that a pacemaker to save a life or an implant to prevent seizures isn't noble, because it is and should be done.
My point is that I believe technology should help us become better humans, not replace the parts of our humanity that we don't like or aren't good enough for our vanity.

Well said. As with most things there is a point where the helpful can become harmful.

 

[livinoutdoors]

Agreed. But short of a cataclysmic event, I don't see any stopping it.

Nobody liked my ned ludd joke up there i see.

 

[The Original Rooster]

Nobody liked my ned ludd joke up there i see.

Hang on, let me look up ned ludd and I'll get back with you on if it's funny or not.

 

[The Original Rooster]

Nobody liked my ned ludd joke up there i see.

I'm getting old. I completely forgot about the Luddites. I gave half a chuckle.

 

[livinoutdoors]

I'm getting old. I completely forgot about the Luddites. I gave half a chuckle.

Whats old is new again. It seems we are headed for a major change in the world. Folks like him tend to pop up at such times.

 

[Danuwoa]

Agreed. But short of a cataclysmic event, I don't see any stopping it. It may result in the cataclysmic event, although the AI or whatever combination of AI and human might view it like that asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.

But there’s no way to know what all you don’t know. Saying you just dont see any stopping it is like acting like you can see around a corner before you get there. I personally don’t think it’s going to get to what you think it will but I absolutely can not know that.