>Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 11:43:42 +0000
>From: Richard Wentk <richard@skydancer.com>
>Subject: Re: >H Life in the Fourth Millennium
>Transhuman Mailing List
>On Sat, 14 Apr 2001 03:16:02 -0700 (PDT), =D3" wrote:
> >Transhuman Mailing List
> >
> >I agree with Alan - it is a great essay.
> >
> >It offers guidance etc. for our future transhuman endeavours.It
> >shows us that that there are core aspects to the human=
>condition
> >that don't really change over times (little bit like memes...)
> >and that we must consider these in all our undertakings, as
> >natural selection has prevented their extinction for a reason.
>Eh? I thought the whole point of >H was that *everything* was up=
>for grabs. Natural Selection isn't necessarily the sharpest=
>knife in the block.
>Nor, from the looks of this essay, is Steven Pinker. If he really=
>believes that life in 3000 is going to look anything like life=
>today, or even that the humans of 3000 are going to look=
>anything like the humans of today, he's suffering from a serious=
>imagination failure.
>Richard
I'm afraid that I've got to side with Richard here. This is nothing we've
not heard before, a case that builds itself around the comforting notion of
the alleged immutability of the "human condition". That people will always
be people, unchanging in their core nature. It's an appeal to emotion on
many levels I think, referring both to Science and Religion in a general
catch-all. However, *everything* IS up for grabs, long term.
As has been said before, some people think the future will be pretty much
the same as it is now "except with more chrome". This man may just be in
for a shock in the next few decades. The only reason people are still
"people" is that they can't change themselves radically...
Yet.
James...
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and
crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures
to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid."
-Q, Star Trek:TNG episode 'Q Who'
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