[extropy-chat] Primates dreams and posthuman futures

[ben]

"Jef Allbright" <jef at jefallbright.net> said:

 > I still feel my buttons getting pushed--
...
 > Of course, getting one's buttons pushed is the point of this discussion,

Yay.

...
 > The only alternative would be to lose ourselves in change, abandoning
 > all dignity and respect much as certain lowly larva unthinkingly give up
 > everything that matters to them, for their transformation to a
 > butterfly.

Yup, that's what i'm talking about.

Quite happy to abandon 'dignity' - The very concept of 'human dignity' 
makes me laugh. Where is it when we're on the toilet?

Respect - well, that's something that is earned, by your actions. It's 
not intrinsic or automatically due.

The things i'd disagree with above are 'lose ourselves in change'. I 
prefer to think of it as 'finding ourselves in change', and the 
'unthinkingly' bit. I'm very much thinking "I don't want to be a larva 
for a few decades, then die". Quite happy to live a full human lifespan, 
then, as an alternative to just ceasing to exist, go on to change into 
something else. Hopefully, something more.

OK, you may be right about the predators and such. But finding out is 
preferable to just lying down and giving in.

ben zaiboc