From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Thu Jan 10 2002 - 08:48:03 MST
From: "Anders Sandberg" <asa@nada.kth.se>
> Actually, I would regard somebody who, after hearing the pros and cons
> of being uplifted, said "I'm not going to change" as a rather extropian
> person.
If changing resulted in increased extropy, then an obstinate refusal to change
could not accurately be described as extropian.
> Certainly more extropian than the instinctive "Yech, I will
> *never* abandon the true way!"
Since never abandoning the true way is equivalent to not changing, you have
contradicted yourself. You see, "I'm not going to change" and "I will never
abandon the true way" both indicate a refusal to adapt. So, one is just as
anti-extropian as the other.
> - which is just as unextropian as the
> person who doesn't care to hear about the demands of self-augmentation
> and just respons with a "Yay! Uplift me *now*!".
Of course, being deaf (as we were saying), they couldn't hear about such
demands.
So, as I was saying, the most unextropic thing one can do is to choose to
remain deaf (which means willful ignorance of the world of sound), and that
means remaining deaf to the benefits of uplifting. That's what the old saw
means:
"There are none so deaf as those who will not hear."
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment, malevolent AI,
non-sensory experience, SETI
We move into a better future in proportion as the scientific method
accurately identifies incorrect thinking.
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