From: Jim Fehlinger (fehlinger@home.com)
Date: Thu Apr 26 2001 - 19:26:16 MDT
xgl wrote:
> I wrote:
> > ...the belief that one's own personality is important enough
> > to take extreme measures to preserve from nonexistence strikes
> > me as -- unseemly, somehow...
> i regard my life as, generally speaking, a good thing (in the sense
> that chocolate is good).
Don't get me wrong. I would have no objection to upgrading
myself piecemeal into a transhuman. Starting with mobile
high-speed Internet access. Retinal projectors. Some sort
of myoelectric pickup that would allow me to type by twitching
my fingers. And on to the more exotic stuff (whatever it turns
out to be). All that would be right up my alley. It would be
part of my entertainment budget. Chocolate **is** good!
If I could take the Krell brain-boost in the form of an extra
vitamin pill in the morning, my credit card would be on the
counter at GNC in a flash. Not that one would have much of a
choice about it if such stuff really became available -- you'd
have to do it to stay employed, or even to continue to be
able to hang out with your friends, if they decided to take
the pills. But I wouldn't fight it; I'd be eager to try it.
If, after a few decades of this, I ended up looking back on my
merely human existence the way I look back on being a five-year-old
now, I wouldn't get particularly bent out of shape about it.
There's something about cryo that puts me off, though -- I suppose
it's not entirely rational, but it's quite strong. If someone
I cared about insisted I do it, I suppose I'd do it -- with a great
deal of eye-rolling, foot-dragging, and face-making (I'd have to
be pushed through the door of the office, and I **really** wouldn't
be able to look the salesman in the eye).
I feel the same way (or even more so) about being scanned and
duplicated as an upload, a la _Permutation City_. I don't feel
like the Copy would be me, just somebody with all my faults and
limitations.
I really don't know whether I'd push the button to initiate a
Moravec transfer. I suppose I probably would, in the end -- but
I'd dance around it for a long time, and I'd want to see a lot
of TV documentaries and Usenet articles, as well as talking
to a few uploads, first.
Of course, having my brain supercharged, if that becomes
possible, might cause me to change my mind about anything in
the above three paragraphs!
Jim F.
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