From: Bernard Hughes (bjhughes@istar.ca)
Date: Mon Oct 26 1998 - 17:43:53 MST
Robin Hanson wrote:
> Max More writes:
> >If smart people like Pizulli and the other intellectuals who have written
> >in opposition to cloning become so irrational when dealing with an issue
> >like human cloning, we'd better watch out for their response when we're
> >talking about altering human nature and making technological changes far
> >more interesting and far-reaching that copying a person's genes.
>
> Something about this sort of topic seems to trigger cognitive
> reactions which bypass mental modules capable of more abstract critical
> analysis. I think it is very important for us to understand this
> cognitive process in more detail.
>
Perhaps its some sort of antibody reaction to foreign memes. Societies that
accepted new ideas too easily were destroyed by random passing memes. Only
ones with a strong, if irrational, resistance to new ideas survived. As with
many of our previously useful survival traits, our resistance to new ideas may
kill us.
I personally have seen some pretty scary reactions to new ideas, so I believe
its a serious problem. One solution would be to operate in
secret, but we have already blown that. Another would be to form an isolated
community strong enough to go its own way. Not very likely to succeed I think.
Understanding and bypassing the process seems the best bet. But its a pretty
indelible response in some people I fear.
Bernard
-- Bernard J Hughes bernard@timedancer.com Timedancer Systems http://www.timedancer.com -- Creative Laziness at its best --
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