From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Fri Jul 12 2002 - 23:37:19 MDT
anders sanberg opined:
>>The exit strategy consists of moving somewhere else (or possibly isolate
oneself in an enclave) if society doesn't fit and build a new one from
scratch. It worked great in the Americas. The basic problem is that this
only works for relatively low-tech societies: by moving away you cut
yourself off from the economic infrastructure of the larger society, and
this will by necessity make your own economy far less complex..<<
The technology to create actual, real, live, Transhumans, would diminish the
need to move away in the first place. This is because the technology would
massively, improve the quality of life for nearly, everyone. However,
quoting the late, Poul Anderson, from The Queen of Air and Darkness:
"...humans moved into space, at first to protect democracy, then to preserve
national or cultural norms, finally, to safeguard rational-technical
civilization." I an not sure I agree with P.A. on this, but why should the
space community dwelling Transhumanists, isolate themselves so much as to end
commerical agreemements with Earthers?
Perhaps mining HE ³ might be a product for Earthers to purchase from the
'Aliens from the outer darkeness', assuming fusion is ever made commercial?
<<Second, if one believes that luddites and anti-tech groups will become
so powerful that they block all transhumanist technology on Earth, why
do one believe they would let it continue on Mars (or L5, the asteroids
etc)? >>
By definition, Transhumanists will be physically and cerebrally superior, the
some knuckle-walking, fanatic. As in the case of cryonics, if it could be
demonstrated that somebody was revived to full consciouness, did not appear
brain-damaged, etc; that discussion would be the talk of the year(s). It
would be medicine's newest, and greatest, advance in human history;
outshinning even the development of antibiotics.
With no alternative to "big-D, little e, little a, t-h, the luddites and
such, have the attention of the newscasters. Give people a chance to be the
bionic man or women, and the superiority will be resented, only of the
majority of humanity can never attain or afford such improvements.
Reminiscent of Robert A. Heinlein's Lazarus Long character, no?
Also, as far as Mars goes, are we not just hoping that Mars' lower gravity
will not play havoc with the part of Transhumanity's biology. You would have
to 'alter' for living on low gravity Mars. The asteroids, once hollowed out,
could be set spinning to create centrifugal force for earth level gravity.
All this stuff feels a long way off.
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