From: natashavita@earthlink.net
Date: Thu Jan 10 2002 - 16:44:29 MST
Original Message:
-----------------
From: Lee Daniel Crocker
Mike sez:
>>> Similarly, talk of 'upgrading' people, or perfecting ones genes is
>>> similarly scary to people. Instead, talk of a 'right to be healthy',
Harvey sez:
>> Excellent choice of words, Mike! I am going to start using this.
>>
>> "I have a right to be healthy!"
>There's some chance of memetic backfire with that one, though.
If the saying becomes popular, it might be interpreted to mean
that you /don't/ have the right to be /more/ than healthy. It's
the same old bill-of-rights problem: if you list them, they'll
think the list is exhaustive, even when the fine print says
otherwise.
I have a right to be /more/ than just healthy. I have a right
to choose my own path of self-improvement. If that means getting
20-10 adaptive vision, robotic implants, neural interfaces, and
anything else I want, then that's what it means.<
Quick thinking Lee, but multi-track on how the meaning of words change over time and through new cultural trends. What was considered healthy at the turn of the last century would not be healthy by today's standards. Healthy to an early-mid stage transhuman will definitely be inclusive of all sorts of sensorial advances you mention above. An early-late transhuman would be unhealthy if he didn't have a advanced state of health by today's definition.
Also the definition of "healthy" doesn't contain any biological restrictions, so the meaning is free to move beyond biological restraints.
Natasha
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .
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