From: Bryan Moss (bryan.moss@dial.pipex.com)
Date: Mon Aug 24 1998 - 06:53:33 MDT
Avatar Polymorph wrote:
> Strictly speaking, it is transhumanists who are
> being non-rational, by not acknowledging the
> nature of boosting. PEOPLE ARE ANIMALS. ALL
> BEINGS ARE CAPABLE OF BEING BOOSTED BY MIXTURES
> OF APPLICABLE NEUROLOGICAL MODIFICATION SYSTEMS,
> FOR EXAMPLE DNA COMPUTERS, DENDRIMER POLYMER
> DNA, INTRA-CELLULAR NANOTECHNOLOGY AND
> CONSTRUCTED NON-'ORGANIC' NEURAL CIRCUITRY.
We already "boost" other species. Cows, for
instance, make great food. Trees make good
furniture. You may think neurologically modifying
a dog is more "moral" than eating one, but I see
no difference. In both cases we're changing the
animal for our purposes.
> Transhumanists fail to focus on this issue,
> despite being more logical than most human
> beings currently around... why?
There have been discussions here before about
uploading animals. And I think a large number of
our discussions apply to boosting the utility of
matter - be it animal, vegetable or mineral.
BM
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