From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Fri Jan 05 2001 - 05:34:50 MST
"Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com> writes:
> EvMick@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > Technology defines humanity. If you describe a human with no technology then
> > youre not describing a human. I'd say the change has been immense and
> > ongoing..
>
> This is simply not true. A human is a human brain. A human is a human
> cognitive architecture. We may have evolved in the presence of fur
> clothing and flint axes, but take away even that, and the brain remains
> the same.
Well, a human brain on its own is just a slushy puddle on the ground. :-)
I would rather say that technology is an important capacity of the
human cognitive architecture, likely an extension of our motor
planning capabilities. It is likely nearly as integral to being human
as the language capacity. A human without any technology will try to
come up with tools for survival - but the presence of these tools will
also affect the human in some ways. It is a kind of cumulative
feedback process.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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