[extropy-chat] Space: The Final Constraint

[Lee Corbin]

Damien S. writes

> 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.

That's often true.

> Most people will never see the Arctic, or rainforest, except through film.
> They value the *existence* of the wilderness.

And that's what I'm complaining about.

> They would also be suspicious of, if not outright
> reject, the idea that all matter should be organized to maximize
> computation and virtual experience,

That's what I said!

> 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)...

Oh Yes, Yes!  I am addressing what people ultimately *prefer*. I am
postulating that even if they understood that these monoliths 
represented lots of people---say, people who just don't happen to
be born yet---they'd still turn up their noses.  We must not confuse
what we want with how we get there.

We get their throught freedom---and persuasion!  And it's latter that
I'm about now.

Lee

> > 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?

What? What?  You don't understand. (Or maybe I don't understand.)
The Earth is the **only** good thing that is happening in sub-lunar
space!

Lee