[extropy-chat] You must be willing to give up everything

[Robert Bradbury]

On 10/31/06, Alex Ramonsky <alex at ramonsky.com> wrote:
>
>  "Forgo what is near; win what is afar" -in the I Ching is translated as
> meaning something like this. Of course, nobody knows who wrote the I
> Ching...it could have been Robert?
>

Unless it was a much earlier version of myself (or one in a parallel
universe) I take no credit for the I Ching.  I think my statement may have
arisen from some combination of watching Kung Fu as a child, Karate Kid when
I was much older and a bunch of Zen koans thrown in at various stages of my
life.

During the late '90s I realized that no matter how hard I might strive to
achieve indefinite "human" longevity it was probably a struggle doomed to
failure due to limits on the minimization of the external hazard function.
Uploading offered a clear evolutionary strategy but would involve
eliminating a rather strong mental attachment I have for my current
instantiation (but hell, cut a few axons here, a few dendrites there, upload
the rest and I'll probably find it amusing that I was once so "attached").

It could probably also be said that certain experiences over the last decade
have made the concept a bit more real for me.  Concepts are interesting but
its experiences that give them wings.

Robert
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