From: E. Shaun Russell (e_shaun@extropy.org)
Date: Mon Dec 24 2001 - 15:33:06 MST
Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
>While I admire Eli's passion, as one of those he describes as "in
>total hard-takeoff denial", I see the transhumanist agenda a bit
>differently: rather than the exponential growth of technology being
>a wave that wipes away all the minor and irrelevant distinctions
>we present-day humans spend too much time bickering about, I see
>the rise of technology as expanding our abilities to create /real/
>diversity.
I very much agree with this. While I despise unfounded racism and other
forms of group discrimination (people should be dealt with on an individual
level...not as a group), I also think that there is a need for diversity of
culture. Cultural assimilation scares me whether it is done with the best
of intentions or not. While I don't think that was what Eliezer was
proposing in his recent post, such assimilation *seems* (and I stress that
word) to be a by-product of some brands of singularitarianism. I have
other problems with some singularity theories, but I will delve into those
at some later date.
> Our present irrational concerns about race will be
>wiped out not because we will come together, but because we will
>diverge and speciate and migrate to the point where what are now
>perceived as "racial" differences will be of less magnitude than
>the individual differences we will be able to create. As we grow
>apart, it will be all the more important that we learn how to take
>advantage of diversity and comparative advantage so that the new
>races we become will continue to work effectively toward even
>greater diversity and creativity as we expand into the universe.
Perhaps I am wrong, but this seems to me to be far more realistic than any
other scenario I have heard. Whether or not you find this scenario ideal
or not is an entirely different question, but if you look at the way
history has gone and look at how people are *now* in this technologically
advanced age, I have little doubt that races, cultures and other groups
will diverge as opposed to converge; if some cultures cannot agree with
each other in this day and age, perhaps humanity will be better off with a
divergent path instead of a convergent one.
________________________________________________________
E. Shaun Russell Operations Officer, Extropy Institute
e_shaun@extropy.org http://www.extropy.org
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~K i n e t i c i z e Y o u r P o t e n t i a l~
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