[ExI] Fermi Paradox - Weighted Summary

[hkhenson]

At 03:48 AM 12/4/2007, you wrote:
>On 04/12/2007, John K Clark <jonkc at att.net> wrote:
>
> > 2) There is a fundamental limit on what intelligence can achieve, possibly
> > due to war but probably because of the danger of having too much control
> > over ones mind and entering into a positive feedback loop;
> > in other words, electronic drug addiction.

It's more subtile than just drug-like addiction.  Consider Second Life.

>If anything, drug addiction occurs in our culture due to having too
>little control over one's mind. Some drug addicts wish they had never
>been tempted to use the drug in the first place, and most drug addicts
>wish they could easily switch off their addiction, or that there was
>something else they could do that was as least as enjoyable as the
>drug but more productive. If they had complete control over their
>minds, it would be a simple matter to arrange for these things to be
>the case. If you thought that the denial of all pleasures was
>important, you could simply make yourself content to deny yourself all
>pleasures. This would involve making pleasure-denial more pleasant
>than the anticipation of pleasure indulgence.

If you put sex drugs cults in Google and take the first link, you can 
see what I wrote about the origin of drug addiction some 5 years ago.

Be glad to discuss it in depth.

Keith