[extropy-chat] What Human Minds Will Eventually Do

[Lee Corbin]

Russell wrote

> > I guess it is a hard concept. The question is about what we
> > may wish to do when we *can* equally well get any reward
> > whatsoever from the activity.

> I understand the question perfectly well; I was trying, 
> ...to point out that it collapses on itself.
> Postulate a scenario where you have freedom to modify
> your mind, including goal systems, as you choose (using
> a smart computer aided enhancement program to avoid the
> obvious pitfalls), 

That's what I was talking about.

> and have say a trillion years of lifespan and 
> reasonably adequate resources:
> What would you choose to modify yourself to enjoy doing?  Why?

Uh oh, I don't think you made it clear whether I have mood-control
or not. That's crucial To me, from the outset of this thread, that
has been the focus.

If I *do* have mood-control, then I wouldn't modify myself *to
enjoy* doing anything. Understand why?  That's because whatever
I did would not be *linked* to how satisfying or pleasurable I
was finding life; what one would choose to do---which is what
I have been asking all along---then turns out to be a much more
abstruse query (but important, for all that).

In other words, sadly, I can't get most people to think
of the question in any other way than "What would I enjoy
doing (for however long, under whatever conditions)?". That
is not the question. It is instead, "given that all your
emotions are under your direct will, what else will you be
doing with your brain and your life?"

But if *you* are asking such a question---namely what *would*
I enjoy doing, given the (relatively) helplessness over my moods 
that now constrain us, well, I simply don't know. I have noticed
that what I enjoy doing doesn't necessarily stay the same over
the decades. 

> Do you think other people should choose the same activity?

Without mood-control, again?  No, of course not.  I could not
in any reasonable manner expect baseball fans (like the late
Stephen Gould) or scrabble-enthusiasts to switch over to my
tastes, nor could I be expected to switch over to theirs.
In fact, it's worse than that: were Stephen Gould to choose
to play chess, he probably wouldn't like it at all, or else
he already would have been a chessplayer.

Lee