From: Scott Badger (wbadger@psyberlink.net)
Date: Thu Apr 22 1999 - 21:41:07 MDT
Turning this thread back toward an Extropian theme:
We have always been and still are quite alone . . . islands, our minds
trapped inside our bony skulls. One could argue that intra-species
communication was so powerfully adaptive that our brains just kept getting
larger and larger in order that we might form abstract language and more
effectively communicate with each other. Still, our ability to communicate
effectively remains very limited. It's one reason that relationships are so
hard. But it seems our greatest joys are linked with our most intimate
moments, those moments when we are most connected. Those moments often
occur when we are making love. Because it is so physically intimate, we
chose this act to symbolize our deep desire to mentally *connect* with
another.
Technology will soon (relatively) provide us with the means to achieve
*real* communication. Innumerable science fiction stories have dealt with
this idea, of course. I assume it will either come in the form of
tech-enhanced mental telepathy or perhaps uploads will simply merge selected
portions of their data files. Imagine directly experiencing your own
enhanced physical orgasm. . .and then directly experiencing your partner's
orgasm. Wheee!
On a non-sexual level, imagine Extropians deciding that an e-mail based list
is way too tedious. Let's just form a colony-mind, contributing whatever
portion of our individual psyches we choose to. How powerful would that be?
How addictive would that be? Can our species avoid eventually turning into
some Borg-variant . . . some global mind?
Just wondering.
Scott
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