[extropy-chat] Death is irreversible v.1.0

[Russell Wallace]

On 5/8/06, Heartland <velvet977 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Russell, if the argument seems clear, and yet it failed to convince you,
> then it
> should be clear to you what is wrong with it. If you know what that is,
> please
> don't hesitate to point that out.


Sure: you said intelligence is more like a brick than a symphony. It's not;
it's more like a symphony ^.^

(I'm not proposing to join this debate - more than enough electrons have
been spilled on it already; I'm happy to leave naming the pattern, thread
and substrate views as my contribution. But I've answered the question you
asked.)

You mean more productive than writing arguments like these? Perhaps
> arguments like
> these will someday help further the progress of biological life extension
> by
> steering that progress in the right direction. One can only hope.


Let's be honest here: we all know that anyone who's going to be persuaded by
this argument to change their actions, has been persuaded already. If one
finds it fun to continue such arguments anyway, then by all means; but let's
call things entertainment when they are entertainment, and productive when
they are productive, and not deceive ourselves about which is which.

I don't think I like the idea of altering my behavior to appease the ghost
> of
> economics of time management with its goal to maximize productivity in
> shortest
> amount of time. This subgoal may not serve well the goal of maximizing the
> quality
> of my subjective experience (whatever remains of it, that is). I don't
> know.
>

Your time is of course yours to dispose of as you choose, but I figure it's
worth making this point (in general, not addressed only to you):

We are evolved to want to spend a lot of time debating politics, religion
and philosophy with our neighbors, to believe it's an important thing to do
- because it _was_ important when our world consisted primarily of a tribe
of 200 people and our chance of finding a mate and producing healthy
offspring depended heavily on our social status within that tribe. This
situation no longer holds, but we still have the instincts that evolved
therein; it takes conscious thought to realize they are maladaptive and an
effort of will to override them.

What's important now is to bring about a better future (and preferably
quickly enough that we - as many as possible of the six billion of us - live
to see it). To bring it about not only as a plausible sounding argument, but
a state of affairs that actually exists in the physical world. Arguing with
fellow subscribers to extropy-chat can contribute to that goal when it helps
bring about better understanding, but once each side is clear on the other's
views and the reasoning behind them, once there's nothing new being said on
the topic, the expected utility of further argument is low. Sitting down in
the laboratory and doing the actual work; contributing money and time to
support those who are doing so; marketing for better public appreciation and
campaigning for more resources for those who are doing the work - those are
the things that retain their value.
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