From: David D. (mars@bga.com)
Date: Fri Oct 18 1996 - 23:31:02 MDT
Michael Butler wrote:
>
> Are such transhumans aware that there is a risk of being considered
> so alien as to be suspect if they have this elective personality
> surgery performed?
Agreed. I was presupposing a supportive environment.
> If you'e the first on your block to get cranked (my phrase), what
> will keep you from going stir crazy from the solitary confinement?
The generic term would be 'willpower.' I think there's probably a better
word and definition, but I'm not sure exactly what they'd be.
> *That* might be a good reason to have a "Vulcan mode" switch for your
> consciousness. But a switch, not an irrevocable dissociation, seems
> prudent to me.
Prudent, yes. But if the decision were either/or (and I strongly believe
it would be both/and), I still might opt for the experiment.
I'm going to go ahead and <snip> the rest of your posting, because I
agree with most of it. I still haven't got the tone of my writings to
match the tone of my voice. :->
I don't want to say that I think striving toward a life of null-emotion
would be a good thing, just that I wonder, sometimes, about the priority
that it's given and why it's given that priority.
> You seem to have already made up your mind about _that_. :) :)
> Welllllll, maybe. ;->
This brings to mind a larger point, though. Considering the political and
cultural difficulties transhumans now face (along with the peak of
interest that occurs in adolescence), is there any chance of these ideas
being supressed so totally they become a topic of history graduate
students? If the Singapore model of capitalism takes over the world is
there any way for 'post-primate' politics to gain a foothold?
My theory is that this won't happen on Earth. If anyone wants a
transhuman life of null-emotion, in a protected and encouraging
enviroment, they will have to be part of a complex diaspora of sister
societies that might occur in mass extraterrestial colonization.
David D.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:35:48 MST