Making the Most of What We Have

From: david_musick@juno.com
Date: Wed May 19 1999 - 09:48:02 MDT


Like all transhumanists, I want greater abilities than I have now. I
read about, anticipate and even design technologies which will extend my
abilities in the future. However, I also realize that the abilities I
already have are not being utilized to anywhere near their potential.
And while I realize that adding technological layers to myself will
extend my abilities in the future, I also realize that I can extend my
abilities now through practice and discipline.

For example, I can learn to develop faster and more accurate motor skills
as well as greater strength with various kinds of exercise (more on this
later). I can learn to be far more efficient in my everyday actions. I
can learn to see visual images in greater detail and analyze more fully
my constantly changing visual field so that my internal model of my
surroundings is more accurate. I can learn to improve my ability to
visualize complex three-dimensional models, which comes in handy for
engineering and mathematics activities.

Everything I can do, I can learn to do better, and because I am learning
to take more full advantage of my current biological abilities, when
technological augmentations become available to me, I will be able to
take more full advantage of these abilities because I practice the
discipline of taking advantage of whatever situation I find myself in.

>From what others have demonstrated throughout human history, the
potential of even non-augmented human beings is incredible, far beyond
what ordinary people achieve. It is unnecessarily wasteful to focus on
only technological means of extending our abilities when there is so much
we could do through our own self-discipline.

One of the advantages of extending your innate abilities is that you can
start right now and you don't have to wait for some company to make a
product to sell you that may or may not work reliably.

David_Musick@juno.com

you can do far more than you were raised to believe

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