From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Sun Mar 24 2002 - 10:38:23 MST
From: "Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@aeiveos.com>, Sun, 24 Mar 2002
> > I think that _humans_ are first and foremost and from here,
>> we seek means of survival (*and growth*) on this planet/outwards
>> working, as best we can, with the complex interaction between
>> the Earth's biology, sociology, chemistry, physics, politics,
>
>Are we? If you accept that humans are sub-optimal, then doesn't
>growth [really more importantly -- evolution] become much more
>important than survival?
I agree that growth is necessary, but humans must survive before
they grow.
The gist of my previous message was that I disagree on the
view of technology being imposed on us 'from without'. Instead,
technology imposed 'from within' gives us a human/transhuman-centric
worldview to guide the directions of our growth with a system of checks
and balances (our values, ethics) along with our own creativity and
ingenuity, leaving room for wonderful surprises using our technological
tools. Of course we need to discuss and plan for runaway disasters,
but I think it hurts us to think and act as if technology controls us
(i.e. that people must adapt to technology). That path only plays
on fears.
The real richness in our present and future lives are humans/transhumans
(and whatever other sentient beings pass our way). Those, I think should
be the focus, not the technology. The technology in my view is simply
one of the tools for our growth.
-- ******************************************************************** Amara Graps, PhD email: amara@amara.com Computational Physics vita: ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/ ******************************************************************** "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." --Anais Nin
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