From: John Grigg (starman2100@lycos.com)
Date: Tue Jan 22 2002 - 04:31:24 MST
Lee Daniel Crocker wrote,
> I can't imagine anything better than immortality surrounded by the
> marvelous, challenging, infuriating, arrogant jerks I've met through
> ExI. If the alternative is spending eternity with the pathetic mindless
> sheep that make up "polite" society, I'd rather be dead.
Harvey wrote:
Funny you should mention that.... I've been thinking about the "long view"
of my life. It very well could happen that immortality never becomes
mainstream. Even if it does, it could take a very long time. Or even if it
comes quickly, we will be the founders or the originators with everyone else
being some sort of late-comers. A small group of us will be all that
remains of the original transhuman generation. We will be the only
survivors after an entire generation is wiped out or saved. In any case, we
will be an odd minority with a different history and background than anyone
else.
(end)
I have definitely thought about this, too! And it is sad to think many transhumanists enjoyed here may be lost because they did not sign up for cryonics. Hey, I'm the one here who believes in God and an afterlife! lol And just think, every extropian reanimated will be a good excuse to have a party!
I do suspect a large amount of bandwidth in the "extrolist of 2050" will involve a lot of "I told you so" and "remember what you said back then!" An arms race of cognitive enhancement may occur among future list members, as they attempt to best each other with an ongoing competition and fusion of ideas, facts and opinions.
I enjoy your final line in the paragraph. We will *hopefully* be seen as pioneers and not just an odd minority! lol I could even envision a lot of scholarly biological and machine minds writing scads of papers about us. I hope they can even find the words of Eliezer which I paraphrased the other day!
you continue:
It is almost as if we are aliens here, just passing through. Or we are
immortals for whom a brief flash of a single generation seems less
important. While the rest of the generations come and go, we may be the
only long-term relationships we have in the future. Or if a whole
generation becomes immortal, we will be the oldest or the first of that
generation. We may be more advanced than the rest of the world, or left
behind as a future evolves off in an unexpected direction.
(end)
Yes. Events could go down a number of different paths! I think even extropians can sometimes experience future shock, and so the community bonds here could really help bolster people to hang in there, and make it to what ever world turns out. Pro-Act will hopefully be successful in helping to make that world an exciting and open one.
Harvey wrote:
In any case, I see this group of people as family. We are all far-flung
cousins that cannot simply be ignored. Even if we disagree on some points,
we will have to learn to get along. It's a small universe and we're going
to keep running into each other. It is almost as if we are stranded in a
small subculture that forever ties us together as different from anything
that preceded us or that might follow. We will be a small band of travelers
into the future. Even if the future is full of transhumans, our particular
group will be comparatively small.
(end)
I feel the same way! One big and moderately dysfunctional extropian family(with interesting friends to round things out).! I love your comment about it being a "small universe and we're going to keep running into each other." Over the decades and centuries I can envision this happening! lol There is a certain sanctity to your words "we will be a small band of travelers into the future." I feel very special to know this small band. :)
you concluded:
Any thoughts? Or am I not getting enough caffeine again?
(end)
You now have mine. And lay off the excessive use of caffeine! lol The post you wrote was very touching to me, and I hope to keep it in mind over the next several decades(really). I suppose the archives will "time capsule" it for a rereading after we arrive on the other side of where we want to go.
best wishes,
John
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