[extropy-chat] Avoid Too Much Change.

[Lee Corbin]

John writes

>> Surely you do not think that the fetus you once were is seriously "you".
> 
> But that was exactly my point. I am certain you don't consider it a great
> tragedy that a fetus turned into an adult Lee Corbin, so why is it a great
> tragedy if the adult Lee Corbin turns into something greater?

Oh, no!  It's no tragedy for *me* that that thing turned into Lee Corbin.
But from the point of view of the fetus, it was death;  for it became unto
something totally unlike itself.

>> To recap, this being Isador with his IQ 12,000 and his unbelievably vast
>> erudition has concerns that you today cannot relate to in the slightest.
> 
> Correct, it's called growth.

For me, growth includes only change that doesn't turn me into someone
or something else. And what is "something else"?  It's an entity that
behaves utterly differently from me and whose values aren't mine and
who thinks about completely different things than I do.

>> He spends nothing of his time thinking at all like you have ever thought.
> 
> Nothing? With an IQ of 12,000 and counting he can afford to think about all
> sorts of things. Who knows,  Isador might even get a bit nostalgic from time
> to time and put .001% of his brainpower thinking about the good old days.

Do you really think that you'd ever spend even .001% of your time dwelling
on what it was like being a fetus, even if you could?  And if you could, why
not spend the time dwelling on what it was like for Lee Corbin to be a fetus
instead?  The experiences could not have been that different.

>>  Humans and human thinking might very well indeed be extinct within a
>> century.
> 
> I'd say it's a virtual certainty, and probably in less than half a century.

I'm still holding out that the global warming hysteria will inflict so much
damage on the world's economy that we'll revert to medieval life. But
hey, it was nice and warm back then.  Too bad my dewar will be
allowed to defrost.

Lee