[ok] Re: [extropy-chat] The human OS [was: when will computersimprove?]

[Brett Paatsch]

Henrique Moraes Machado wrote:

> Well, what if suicide is just a bug in the OS? As far as I know, 
> there's no software without bugs.

Then it would be *just* a bug in the OS.  And some simple models
of the universe would not need to change at all. We understand
and can fix bugs so it would probably be a relief and a bonus.
Immortality would seem to be *relatively* easy - just port the
program to another substrate - *just* upload. 

Problem is, if it is not that easy, and we get seduced into seeing
the whole universe through a paradigm we just happen to
understand - not because its particularly useful, but because
we understand it, then we don't make real progress towards
the real goal.  

There are reasons that double blind tests are necessary in
drug trials for instance - its not that doctors are stupid or 
unscientific - its that doctors want patients to get better too
- and not all conditions are improvable with just positive thinking.
Conditions that are not psychosomatic need real remedies not 
just placebos and to find the real remedies its necessary to test
carefully and dispassionately making sure that our biases towards
the results that we naturally want don't lead us to false conclusions. 

If humans are just computers, just hardware running software and
we could just upload that would be great. But the word *just* 
implying its easy shouldn't get a look in here.  It definitely will not
be easy.

And if its possible we are no more justified in being certain that it
will be done soon or in a timeframe of interest to us (our lifetime)
than the best step by step plan we have personally seen and 
understood allows us to be. Its the step by step plan that makes 
the difference between reasoning and believing. 

Without that plan and without a personal understanding of it one
system of belief based on leaping over gaps in reasoning is pretty
much as impractical and arbitrary as the next. 

I think its useful to recognize a distinction between human drives
to find a belief system complex enough to make the believer feel
better (having hope even illusory hope can be more functional 
than the alternative for a time) and having a reasoned solution
complete enough to be implemented.

Regards,
Brett Paatsch