From: James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Date: Sat Dec 25 1999 - 12:06:10 MST
On Sat, 25 Dec 1999, Matthew Gream wrote:
>
> I would agree that science can be seen as a culmination, or pure form, of
> religion. It is interesting to relate religious ideas with transhumanism.
In the denotative sense of religion, maybe, but the connotation is a
very poor match. Ascribing a religious significance to science seems
to be most popular with those people who are unable to conceive of the
possibility that someone might not be religious. These are the people who
are sure that religion is an inseperable part of human nature, so they
spend their time looking for the "true religion" of those who claim to be
non-religious.
> For instance, the idea that through genetic and cognitive enhancements,
> the human will be perfected;
I don't think everyone wants to be the perfect human; indeed, I suspect
that some aspire to perfect sentience, which is quite a different goal.
It is arguable that the human form (in a very broad sense) is not
perfectable, and depending on how bold the transhuman, one has a choice of
the lesser status of being a "perfect human" and the possibly unattainable
goal of being a "perfect" sentient entity. From a public relations
standpoint, far more people are afraid of the ability to lose one's
humanity than to lose one's imperfections.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.co
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:06:12 MST