From: Ben Goertzel (ben@goertzel.org)
Date: Sat Apr 28 2001 - 17:01:27 MDT
> in a sense, i guess foreign testbeds are simpler in that they have
> less existing infrastructure that get in the way of change. we
> could sponsor a school with less fear of being sued. we could equip a
> village to become self-sufficient without too much capital up-front.
> but from past discussions, i do recall the issue of corrupt local
> thugs/warlords/governments, etc. i have no idea on whether and to
> what extent this would be an obstacle though.
There are places where this is not an obstacle, for sure
>
> finally, all this hinges on our ability to organize and raise
> funds. of course, it is a lot more difficult to organize in the
> absense of a concrete cause. so maybe we should draw up a list of
> potential ventures first.
I think that the best project would be one that both helped the unfortunate
AND furthered the transhumanist cause.
My suggestion would be this. Pick a location in an impoverished nation.
Then, create an educational facility there that, in addition to providing
general education, trains people to do things useful for the transhumanist
cause. Then employ the people who have graduated from this educational
facility in the various businesses that we all are involved in.
For instance, to take the most obvious example, we could create a computer
science training institute somewhere where there isn't any -- maybe where
there are hardly any computers -- and then employ its students as
long-distance interns, and its graduates as long-distance professionals.
I don't delude myself that doing this sort of thing is EASY. By no means.
I don't personally have the time to drive such an effort, though I would
visit there and teach occasionally, and teach online frequently, for free.
But if someone who loves both transhumanism and education would like to
spearhead such a thing, I think the transhumanist community would
participate avidly, and that this would be a great thing for our public
image, as well as for our "souls."
I don't consider this any more of a "deviation from the true path" than
taking a day off to play with my kids. (Gee, haven't done that for a while
;p -- maybe tomorrow...). It's important that the people who do create
the next phase of reality are psychologically reasonably-well-balanced, and
service to others is one way to help move toward psychological balance...
just like playing frisbee instead of writing AI code now and then...
ben
-- Ben
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