From: Steve Witham (sw@tiac.net)
Date: Tue Sep 03 1996 - 21:11:57 MDT
>From: Eric Watt Forste <arkuat@factory.net>
>Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 15:39:37 -0700 (PDT)
>[...]
>I've always been fond of Tom's essay in Extropy #3 pointing out that sex
>is, or at least can be, the highest-bandwidth form of communication
>possible between two human beings. Given my own recently growing
>conviction that (at least minimal) communication with other rational
>beings is part and parcel of rationality, this way of thinking about sex
>could lead to some interesting research programs into the possibility that
>sexual behavior (or at least some kinds of sexual behavior) can directly
>enhance cognitive function and even, yes, rationality.
Another angle is that sex is an model or ideal for communication, sort of
like music and math are thought to be, so we should be sending sex toys out
on our space probes. NO! What I MEANT to say is, maybe we should think
about sex as a model for communication with aliens, or between different
kinds of home-grown intelligences, or even as a model for science in a
universe that one suspects is permeated with intelligence (I'm getting
ready to post on the Great Filter thread).
[Gee, I wonder how people will parse this post in the context of my new
signature (& vice-versa)?]
--Steve
--
http://www.tiac.net/users/sw
"The thought of intimacy is repulsive and out of the question."
--Henry Rollins
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