From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Thu Aug 12 1999 - 07:45:24 MDT
"john grigg" <starman125@hotmail.com> writes:
> I DID NOT NEED TO KNOW THAT!
This is an interesting response. If I understand it and the context
correctly, John got a negative reaction by reading what Ken wrote and
now suggests that the world would have been better if Ken's original
posting had not been done.
It is somewhat similar to the response some people have to science -
they feel that just because some scientist now knows how rainbows,
sunsets, butterflies or emotions work, they lose their wonder. They
feel that the act of understanding or knowing something - even if they
themselves remain ignorant of the details - decreases the beauty of
the world. The only reason I can see for that kind of reasoning is
that they believe in mysticism, in the sense that they value the
unknown and unknowable more highly than the real and known. Not a very
rational way of thinking.
John's response is rather an emotional reaction and seems more based
on a dislike for what Ken was doing. Which brings up another
interesting issue: As transhumanists, I think we should train
ourselves to be tolerant. I mean, if we can't stand our neighbours
love lives, how can we survive in a world where some people will
modify their very motivational systems or devise utterly new memes?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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