01-17-2020, 01:13 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-17-2020, 01:23 PM by Bill the Piper.)
(01-16-2020, 02:31 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: But how can biotech make us better human beings? I suspect it still requires cultivation of virtue. Can you technologically instill good character, and bring out our spontaneous and genuine love? No, it takes spiritual practice, of which meditation is primary.
What about eliminating Dark Triad traits (psychopathy, narcissism and sadism) from the human genetic makeup? The love we feel now is also a result of our brain structure and neurotransmitter production, so future humans with better brain structure and more balanced neurotransmitters will certainly be better at loving their fellows. To the extent meditation works, it does because it affects the brain.
I agree that transhumanism must be based on cultivation of virtue, and a correct moral philosophy. 60s Leftism that glorified "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" won't do
Quote:I don't think extropianism values mind over matter if it holds that the mind needs a material substrate.
Think how the amount of limitations we experience because of our material substrate is decreasing because of technology. We can talk in real time to people from another continent. We can access all mankind's knowledge online. We can also slow down ageing, at least superficially, so that thirtyish women already can run in beauty pageants and compete with 20-somethings. All of that would seem magical or otherworldly to a person from the Victorian age, let alone Ancient Greece. This development has to continue using a similar methodology, based on rationality rather than magic or faith. In the future, full immersion virtual reality will enable people to experience being their favourite fictional characters or play out their sexual fantasies. We will also be able to clone a new body and transplant our brains into it, gaining a completely different appearance. Remotely controlling the cloned body would probably be more handy, and allow one's brain to remain absolutely safe. In fact we will gain many abilities Greek Gods used to have. Furthermore, automation will free us of the necessity of wage labour and capitalism will become obsolete or at least marginalised.
Quote:Those who wanted to preserve the power of corporations and the wealthy as well as the racists and religious traditionalists fought back against these reforms, and they put their man Reagan into office. His efforts and those of his cohorts created the 3T, in which reaction held sway against government as "the problem" with trickle-down economics as the false cure.
Wait... Didn't America already have a Keynesian economics and strong welfare sector (aka compassionate conservatism) under the New Deal? European nations also chose a similar system during the previous cycle.