From: I William Wiser (will@wiserlife.com)
Date: Tue Oct 31 2000 - 02:19:19 MST
Hi Eliezer,
Loved your singularity essays.
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky Wrote:
>Well, you made a good case for self-defense. What are the other fourteen?
>(I'm not requesting a series of fourteen posts, I just want the
>list off the top of your head.)
1. Good values, beliefs and attitudes for life extension.
2. Planning and analysis (skills and application)
3. Managing your psychology and brain chemistry
4. Anti-aging therapies
5. Practicing good general health measures
6. Accident prevention and preparation
7. Financial resources and well being
8. Medical care
9. Violence avoidance, protection, self-defense
10. Bio-preservation
11. Building social relationships
12. Relationships to social hierarchies
13. Keeping up on science and technology
15. Longer term concerns (future technology, politics, environment, space,
etc.)
16. Mental skills
17. People skills
Each item has many subheadings. They are roughly in the order I
think it makes sense for the typical person (in a developed country)
to pursue them. One could pursue them in something like an iterative
cascade. It could be argued that the ones at the bottom are the most
important but they are also the most difficult. A dozen or two other
people who have been into life extension for a while looked over the
list and most had a similar order. They are all pretty important.
This list is from an individual perspective. I started this list
after hearing Romana's talk at Extro I. I finished a working
version of it a few years ago. What I am working on now is a web
site that looks at personal and group life extension concerns and
projects. I hope to have it up some time next month. I am well
into a second draft. I want to get my main ideas and concerns in
one place as a jumping off point for discussion and collaborative
projects. It looks like there are some other similar projects so
once I get my second draft done I will start surfing around.
Once I get my site up and poke around some I'll come back here and
try to generate discussion on particular topics.
Russell once argued that item 9 (self-defense) belonged higher on
the list. I say two black belts. A half dozen firearms. A dozen
courses at someplace like Front Sight. Good mental and emotional
self control. Study violent behavior and situations. Test and
maintain all of these skills and I think that is about all it deserves
unless you actually expect trouble. You can keep getting better
after that but at a more leisurely pace.
I'll second Russell's recommendation to check out Dale Seago or Mike
Kelly for anyone in the bay area. I'm not an expert on martial arts
but I looked at about 30 schools before I settled on trying Bujinkan
first (well, 3rd or 4th, but first this time around.) Russell is
getting pretty kick ass guys and gals we should try to catch up.
The politics of self-defense and freedom is one of the things that
contends for first place when I start thinking about group concerns.
It's not that I necessarily think it is urgent or important but rather
that I do not know enough to evaluate the risk. Until I get a handle
on violence and oppression on a societal and political level I will
keep it high on my list of concerns. Some other top concerns on a
group level are aging, technology (AI, nanotech, biotech), wars.
What I find most challenging now is the allocation of limited resources.
A 48 hour day and I would be good to go. My primary solution to that
(besides giving up melancholy) is to seek more collaboration and discussion.
I have mostly worked alone (with occasional exposure to the brilliance
of my Extropian friends). That's about all I want to say tonight other
than that I am sexually/romantically available and at least a little cute.
Lunch anybody?
Cheers,
Will
I. William Wiser [will@wiserlife.com]
Longevity and Quality of Life Consultant
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