[extropy-chat] The Extropies of Cooking, Movies, and even (the sacred) Seeing Friends

[Lee Corbin]

J. Andrew Rogers writes

> > Oh, I know!  BARBEQUE!  What a thrill for an IQ 300 type who
> > just never gets out. I note already how most of our geniuses
> > are become pastry chefs, handymen, insurance salesmen, and
> > motorcycle repair folks...
> 
> Perhaps interestingly, cooking -- of the fine cuisine type -- is what  
> frequently occupies my time when I am not doing the brain intensive  
> exercises that fill the rest of my day.

For any newcomers, Andrew has written many brilliant essays on subjects
involving artificial intelligence and its future potentialities. I had
the pleasure of meeting Andrew not long ago, and the only thing wrong
with him is that he's soft spoken and polite enough that the conversation
gets steam-rollered by various loudmouth types. I won't mention any names,
but yours truly was there.

> In other words, it [cooking] is both thoroughly relaxing and as
> deeply expressive as any human art form that exists.  And it is
> functional too -- we all have to eat.

Not to mention its likely need after doing "brain intensive exercises
that fill the rest of the day".

However, what will you do when personal energy per day is no longer
under constraint?  In fact, why don't you do *more* cooking and less
intellectual work right now?  It seems to me unlikely that it just
so happens that the constraints imposed "from the outside" on you
perfectly match what you really want to do. (An intriguing novel is
"Beggars in Spain" by Nancy Kress, that explores what might happen
if we simply didn't need to sleep. How would your day change if you
didn't have to sleep?)

You may be *perfectly* happy with present arrangements; but how do
you know that this isn't simply the voice of conservatism within
you?

I myself greatly enjoy music, Go, chess, friends, science fiction,
and one particularly intense television drama ("The Shield"). All
of these tastes (and a number I haven't mentioned) seem quite
appropriate, especially when I'm indulging them. But my God! What
will I do when enjoyment of an activity is no longer linked to the
activity itself?  Sure: the easy answer is "We were not Meant to
go there."

I suspect that almost every activity I now cultivate and enjoy I will
one-day evaluate according to my most sublime values. I suspect that
the above-mentioned may be found wanting.

Lee