From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Mon May 10 1999 - 16:43:44 MDT
Anders wrote,
>Why would they not be able to go back to biology? Having bridged the
>gap once, they will understand it fairly well at that point. Having
>backups is common sense, but not the reason to never take the step
>upwards/outwards.
They could not go back to biology for the same reasons that we cannot go
back to Stone Age life (without conceding the defeat of human civilization
in toto).
Furthermore, at present rates of environmental destruction, "they" (who
remain fictional) will have no biosphere in which to return. In addition,
the motives for trashing biology do not appear conducive to biological
resurrection.
This does not constitute a gap to bridge, or if it does, then traffic flows
one way only. For example, having reached adulthood, the butterfly cannot go
back to the larval stage. To conjecture that the hypothetical "they" will
have the necessary skills and technology to rebuild a dead Earth begs the
question: Why would they if they didn't need to? And if they needed to, that
would indicate an unforeseen dependence which shows the flaw in their desire
to become non-biological.
Experimenters called the only "backup" Earth ever tried "Biosphere II" and
although the enthusiasts involved learned much from their endeavor, the
greatest thing they learned relates to the incredible ignorance humans still
have concerning ecological systems and how they work. Science has not come
close to devising methods to simulate the complexity of large scale living
ecosystems.
This does not mean that Homo sapiens should "never" attempt to create
viable, intelligent, and wise artificial sentience. But we have not yet come
close to doing so. Indeed we may find, as some researchers have opined, that
artificial intelligence and artificial life mean approximately the same
thing. The motives for transcending biology parallel those for transcending
life. If you subscribe to transcendentalism (and the mysticism that goes
with it), I believe that empirical science will eventually overtake you.
The notion that, in the words of Wilson, "our species exists apart from the
natural world and holds dominion over it. We are exempt from the iron laws
of ecology that bind other species. Few limits on human expansion exist that
our special status and ingenuity cannot overcome. We have been set free to
modify Earth's surface to create a world better than the one our ancestors
knew" he calls "exemptionalism."
He continues:
"For the committed exemptionalist, Homo sapiens has in effect become a new
species, which I will now provide with a new name, Homo proteus, or
'shapechanger man.' In the taxonomic classification of Earth's creatures,
the diagnosis of hypothetical Homo proteus is the following:
"Cultural. Indeterminately flexible, with vast potential. Wired and
information-driven. Can travel almost anywhere, adapt to any environment.
Restless, getting crowded. Thinking about the colonization of space. Regrets
the current loss of Nature and all those vanishing species, but it's the
price of progress and has little to do with our future anyway.
"Now here is the naturalistic, and I believe correct, diagnosis of old Homo
sapiens, our familiar 'wise man':
"Cultural. With Indeterminate intellectual potential but biologically
constrained. Basically a primate species in body and emotional repertory
(member of the Order Primates, Infraorder Cattarrhini, Family Hominidae).
Huge compared to other animals, parvihirsute, bipedal, porous, squishy,
composed mostly of water. Runs on millions of coordinated delicate
biochemical reactions. Easily shut down by trace toxins and transit of
pea-sized projectiles. Short-lived, emotionally fragile. Dependent in body
and mind on other earth-bound organisms. Colonization of space impossible
without massive supply lines. Starting to regret deeply the loss of Nature
and all those other species." <end quote>
In short, Wilson's message comes to: Let's not kill all of us in the attempt
to transcend. We had better take care of the environment, or it can't take
care of us. The singularity that concerns Wilson involves the
bio-destruction of the Earth. His concern comes from science rather than
from fiction.
>The meme "something always goes wrong" is dangerous. It is a meme of
>passivity, of never attempting anything. It is a meme that helps
>luddites and conservatives to keep us "human" (i.e. trapped within
>*their* system). Sure, things do go wrong sometimes. But that can
>often be fixed. And we are usually better off when we do something
>about a situation than just accept it.
Yes, I think you've located the point at which something has gone wrong: The
use of the word "always." I should have written: Something _can_ go wrong.
Passivity indeed constitutes a huge problem. Far too few people work to
reverse the damage done to the biosphere. Far too few work toward reversing
the destructive trend of overpopulation. Far too many shirk the
responsibility to live up to human values of compassion, comprehension, and
community, choosing instead to live in a fantasyland of denial.
Consilience means to bring all "*their*" systems together, to unify
knowledge, and to bring consistency to all the sciences, and especially to
sort out which systems have validity and which do not. Humanity needs to fix
the natural environment before it becomes too late to do so. Let's stop
accepting the fat cat political party line that economic growth takes
precedence over preserving natural resources. Let's do something about the
approaching ecological apocalypse instead of just accepting it.
>> As part of the environment, Homo Sapiens deserves conservation as much as
>> does the mountain gorilla or the panda bear. But in our case, we have to
do
>> it for ourselves (despite science fiction about Powers).
>>
>> If humans attain immortality via non-biological means, then it no longer
>> makes sense to call them human. Then they have died and gone to posthuman
>> afterlife.
>
>Sure. And I think that is a *good* thing. But I seriously doubt all
>humans will take that step, there will always be a pool of people who
>for a variety of good and bad reasons chose to remain human.
Nietzsche took me Beyond Good and Evil (the title of my favorite Nietzsche
book) many years ago. Talk about "dangerous memes" -- "there will always be
a pool of people" looks to me like one of the most dangerous of all.
It seems to me that the only choice any living human has concerning
remaining human or not remaining human comes to this:
One can choose to grow up and take responsibility for the ecological
holocaust industrialized humanity has wrought (which means becoming fully
human in my estimation), or one can choose to cling to immature notions that
somehow it will all work out and one can remain enthralled by futuristic
fantasy. If one chooses the latter, one should know that one deserves the
wrath of following generations of humans, who may consider this negligence a
crime against humanity.
Excuse my harshness, but the situation in the "_real_ real world" as Wilson
puts it, requires the application of severe and intense measures to solve
the problems of today and tomorrow. None of this in any way conflicts with
the reality of extropy as it seeks to build more complex habitats for more
sophisticated life forms. Indeed, extropy demands that humans put their
ecological house in order so that we don't plunge ourselves into another
Dark Age. To the extent that Homo sapiens remains passive about
conservation, it thereby makes itself entropic.
The way I see it, extropy means the movement toward more powerful ways to
enrich and expand life. The first and best use of extropian tools involves
cleaning up the mess humanity has made. The Sorcerer's Apprentice will not
remain an apprentice, we may hope. But if the Scientist does not remain true
to science, humanity has not much for which to hope.
Opposition to consilience, IMO, comes from the meme that favors remaining
mechanical. I see signs everywhere that the Machine Age wants to become the
Bio-genetic Age. The consilience of genetic programming, artificial life,
molecular biology, neurobiology, cryonics, synthetic evolution, and so on,
holds tremendous promise when combined with other sciences to go beyond
neo-luddite mechanical prosthetics. However one defines life, it will
surpass human life by creative biological reproduction rather than by
selfish mechanical replication.
--J. R.
CEE CEE Rider:
Conservative Existential Empiricist
Consilient Extropian Environmentalist
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