[extropy-chat] Space: The Final Constraint

[Damien Sullivan]

On Tue, Jun 13, 2006 at 04:08:02AM -0700, Lee Corbin wrote:

> Ah!  But *why* is it horrific?  That is, why would gray, ugly uniform
> mile-high blocks of computronium (or even Pentiums) appall so many
> people?  Well, I'll tell you!
> 
> It's because they personally like the way the Arctic (or your favorite
> woodland *appears*) looks! That is, they like the way that photons get
> bounced off these particular objects into their eyes, and they
> aesthetically disapprove of the way the dull, apparently lifeless
> blocks of computronium look.

> (Besides---don't forget appearance vs. reality again. The "happy"
> chirping of birds in reality are rather brutal territorial dominance
> games that are key to their survival. But, sigh, I'm afraid that

If you find yourself characterizing your opponents as silly, perhaps you
have misunderstood your opponents.  Most people will never see the
Arctic, or rainforest, except through film.  They value the *existence*
of the wilderness.  They would also be suspicious of, if not outright
reject, the idea that all matter should be organized to maximize
computation and virtual experience, as this would seem to be an untested
obsession which should not be allowed to run amok (this is the good
conservatism, wary of large scale social experiments), especially before
the technologies it requires even exist.

> P.S. And on a lighter note, space is not really conserved. A tiny bit

Then you shouldn't begrudge this speck of a planet for the life already
on it, should you?

-xx- Damien X-)