[extropy-chat] limits of computer feeling

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 3/20/07, Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:
>
> At 12:11 PM 3/20/2007 +1100, Stathis wrote:
>
> >What would it mean to abrogate evolution? Arguably it has already
> >happened: we are more concerned with our happiness, which for
> >evolution is just a means to an end, rather than for example
> >maximising family size.
>
> *Not* "maximizing", unless you add situational provisos (we're K, not
> r). "Optimizing" might be better, but that's dangerously
> teleological. "Good-enough-izing" is what I'd call it.


Sure, but in a sense contraception is already an example of what has been
discussed earlier in this thread, decoupling pleasure from its original
biological purpose and pursuing it as an end in itself. Let me say that
there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, or with taking drugs, or
with engineering your mind for pleasure. People still want to have children
because many see it as a worthwhile goal in its own right.

Stathis Papaionnou
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