From: T0Morrow@aol.com
Date: Fri May 10 2002 - 15:04:49 MDT
Your questions made me grin, Lee--in no small part because they touch on
issues (meat vs. bits; the nature of selfhood) that we see debated time and
again on this list. I don't think Extropian thinking dictates a stance on
either question. Indeed, I suppose that is why we keep discussing them. But
FWIW, my brief replies follow (excerpts not indicated).
>I assume that you're describing your post-uploading experiences...
>You're not, ugh, thinking of [extreme camping] in the flesh, are you?
>Gross! What a waste of resources.
A waste? One might say the same now about such things as powerful SUVs and
expert landscaping. I prefer to describe those things, however, as choices
allowed by relative wealth. I think much the same will apply, at least in a
pre-singularity world, of the choice between meat and bits. My fantasy
future thus includes sufficient wealth to enjoy realspace experiences;
uploading I'll leave for those who can afford only a K-Martian reality.
>>Humans probably have some inborn
>>affinity for thriving in nature; nature has too seldom cooperated with
>>that preference. That will almost certainly change, and for the better.
>When you say, "That will almost certainly change", are you
>speaking about the profound problem of how you are going to
>deal with your "inborn affinity for thriving in nature"?
>After you can edit your inborn affinities, which one are
>you going to keep, and why?
I cannot answer that in the abstract very well, but I suspect that my own,
very strong affinity for nature constitutes a sufficiently core aspect of my
personality that I will not want to change it very immediately or rapidly.
As my close friends can testify, they would think some part of me had died if
overnight I stopped enjoying cross-country running, surfing, hiking,
gardening, and so forth.
T.0. Morrow
http://members.aol.com/t0morrow/T0Mpage.html
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