zago
New member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2008
- Messages
- 1,162
- MBTI Type
- INTP
What makes you think that in 10 or 20yrs time we will have such a complete understanding of this extremely complex machine that we can safely tamper with it?
See the graphs above.
We already do safely tamper with it, and greatly to our benefit. Unless you like things like awful diseases and crippling deformities (many of which we no longer worry about, something you might be taking for granted). Our ability to do that will increase in the next few decades vastly more than it ever has in all of history combined.
It's not the first time humans have declared themselves masters of the universe and created more problems with their interference than they solved. It certainly will not be the last time that nature will teach us just how little we know regardless of how large our ego's may be.
Neither I nor you know that. All I'm saying is that science helps us solve problems. Who said anything about "master of the universe" or needing an ego check? Are we egoic in the way we use science today? Is it egoic of us to have defeated smallpox? Looks like we made nature our bitch on that front, at least. Progress is progress, not THE END WE WIN. Our solving 1 problem is a great thing, even if there are more to solve later on.
And there has never been a 25yr old in history that hasn't had a problem with their body? Things with a very small probability of occuring have never occured? The more complex the system the more chaotic it becomes. Unexpected results do happen all the time, things we cannot forsee come up. Even in a system as basic as a large computer network throws up bugs no-one predicted. You are talking about one of the most complex machines ever created and yet you are convinced that our pitiful level of knowledge will ensure that nothing new will result.
Such utopian views of technology and it's virtues are just as one eyed as a religious zealot convinced God is going to rescue the world. Every post here bringing up possibilities for discussion is whitewashed with your 'but technology will change everything' optimism. It seems to lack balance and is unconvincing.
Eh? Believing that science will continue to progress at its current exponential rate and solve problems is hardly comparable to religious zealotry. Are you anti-science now? That's a serious question.
In my opinion, we already live in a utopia, just not the best utopia. I don't have to worry about horrendous diseases. I had a birth defect corrected when I was a baby that would have drastically altered my life. I don't have to spend 14 hours a day doing farm work. I have clean, running water, which doesn't have poop in it (sup cholera?). I live in a relatively new age in which we have harnessed the natural godlike force of electricity, which enables me to do previously inconceivable things. I keep food in my refrigerator. I don't have to set shit on fire to keep my house bright and warm. I can talk to my loved ones RIGHT NOW even though I live more than 100 miles away. I could go on for about hundreds of pages, literally.
Do you take these things for granted? Do you think life hasn't improved since the dawn of technology? Because I can tell you this: we are about to make more progress in it in our very lifetimes than we have in all of human history. We kinda already do on a decade by decade basis, if not yearly. IF SCIENCE HELPS US SOLVE PROBLEMS, future life will be more utopian and the use of that word alone is not an argument, despite all of the failed attempts and fictional accounts of utopias gone wrong.
Dunno about you, but "technology will change everything optimism" is working pretty well for me. It's expanded my mind in ways I hate to think I'd have to have lived without. Shit, we have been to the fucking moon. We have robots on Mars. Those thoughts alone enhance my life. Discovery is its own reward. It's exciting. It's awesome. It DOES make us powerful, it does give us control over nature. Amazing control. We smash protons together at the speed of light. ARE YOU NOT IMPRESSED?
Your argument boils down to "what if the absurd happens, though? Technically it's not impossible!" THAT is what is akin to religious zealotry.
It might not be a point you are interested in but it is a point that will interest a great number of people. You're beloved scientist is looking for money for research, he's trying to drum up interest in a concept that supposedly has been the holy grail of existence, but where is the support for it? I will not be the only person to ever ask the question Is this even a desirable outcome?
Are you kidding me? Do you think no one is interested in things like curing cancer? Why do you think football players wear those fugly pink ribbons? This is what people want, to stop losing their loved ones, to stop facing aging and pain and loss of vibrancy. The only problem, as I stated FROM THE START is that they just don't know it. They have rationalized death, like you, because it is all we have ever known, because if there is no way around it you might as well think of reasons it could be good.
"No support" lol. Seriously? Why do people become doctors? Why do people GO TO doctors? They want to LIVE LONGER, HEALTHIER LIVES. WAKE UP.
And it's common for drug fuelled visions to create interesting reads either in publication or on the internet. My mission isn't to shoot down the vision but to question it, and it's value to me and humanity at large. Who says I even want my identity merged, or to change my gender or erase memories at will. Those are all things which clearly you find desirable but not everyone is the same.
All I stand for is choice. Somehow you are still missing my point. No one is going to force you to merge your identity. No one is going to force you to change your gender or memories. I don't know why you are writing as if they will, or as if other people wanting to is without value. It's ok if "not everyone is the same." I'm not saying everyone NEEDS to be the same. THAT'S NOT MY POINT. The one thing I do think pretty much everyone wants is the choice to have what they want to happen happen when they want it to happen. If you want to get old, ugly, decrepit, and die when you're 80 like as happens to be the norm right now in history, I don't have a problem with that. Although I do think it is random as shit. But whatever!