From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Tue Sep 07 1999 - 11:09:09 MDT
"Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@www.aeiveos.com> writes:
> Since we have only scratched the tip of the iceberg, I think the
> people who want to believe "I *am* my own master", have their
> work cut out for them in defending, what I predict will be an
> ever shrinking set of characteristics, behaviors, desires, motivations,
> etc. of which they are the master. Yes, we can modify ourselves,
> but our degrees of freedom are *limited*, until we have the
> technologies to change the hardware.
Reminds me of the cartoon "Over the Hedge". A character asks the Tree
That Knows Things:
- "Oh, Tree That Knows Stuff... so which is it? 'Nature' or 'Nurture'?"
- "We are not ruled by our genes..."
<a speech bubble pops up from the character's tummy>
- "Achtung baby!"
- "...we are *tyrannized* by our genes"
- "Ve have vays of making you *you*!"
I would say that this genetic view is however a bit limited, because
the interplay between the genes produces so much complexity. Sure, the
neurotransmittor receptor alleles I have influence my personality a
lot, but my personality is the result just of the interaction between
these genes and the environment. It is not something set in stone, it
can be modified quite a bit. Still, it is great fun to be able to
figure out just what causes our various motivations and quirks, the
more I understand of how I work, the better I think I become at using
what I am to achieve what I want.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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