[ExI] [forum] Anti-Transsimianismus

Thu Jan 3 21:34:10 UTC 2008

----- Forwarded message from " mixter at gmail.com" <mixter at gmail.com> -----

From: " mixter at gmail.com" <mixter at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 12:35:28 +0100
To: forum at detrans.de
Subject: [forum] Anti-Transsimianismus
Reply-To: Öffentliches Forum zum Transhumanismus <forum at detrans.de>

   Gefunden auf: [1]http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_040.html

   The following was taken from a cave wall painting in southern Tunisia
   more than 300,000 years ago. Fossil evidence suggests that the author
   was of the species Homo erectus.

                             "Enough is Enough"
                A Thinking Ape's Critique of Trans-Simianism

   To further expound upon the topic of last week's installment, I will
   address the more specific claims of Dr. Klomp and his radical theory
   that has been gaining wider acceptance throughout the community.  Once
   again I would like to thank our readers for sending in your fish bones
   and boar hides in support of this journalist's campaign to expose Dr.
   Klomp's trans-simianist prattle for what it is: a collection of
   wishful thoughts out of keeping with any factual evidence.

   The term 'trans-simian' comes from the shortening of 'transitional
   simian,' a concept Dr. Klomp has developed to describe an individual
   who is in an evolutionary transition from simian to post-simian,
   though Klomp himself admits that he is not entirely clear what a true
   post-simian would be.  Characteristics exhibited by a trans-simian
   include augmentation of one's natural abilities with 'tools,' as well
   as one's mental capacities with what has been dubbed 'culture.'

   Klomp's primary argument rests on what he calls the 'Quickening,' an
   imagined point somewhere in the future when the advancement of
   'culture' occurs so rapidly that its pace will far exceed that of
   biological evolution.  In his own words,

     "There will come a time when within a single generation we will
     develop one or possibly even two new ideas Current advancements in
     the 'bow' and 'arrow' industries suggest an exponential trend in
     the expansion of our technological capacities.  We are able to
     perform hunts in a fraction of the time it took our ancestors, thus
     freeing up valuable time to ' think ' of new ideas. In the
     post-simian world, we may develop into a species that is not only
     intellectually superior to our current state, but capable of feats
     beyond the comprehension of a contemporary simian."

   Pardon this author for not holding his breath.

   Notice that Klomp cherry-picks discoveries to better support his
   argument of an exponential growth.  It took more than a million years
   to develop fire and the hand-ax, and yet Klomp believes simply because
   it took only 2,000 years to develop bows and arrows that new
   inventions will spring up in even shorter timeframes.  This theory is
   an expansion of 'Morg's Law,' which states that since a sharpened rock
   can in turn become a chisel to make an even sharper rock, that the
   sharpness of hand-axes will increase exponentially over the span of
   tens of thousands of years.  While Morg's Law has so far proven
   accurate, Klomp can't escape the reality that there is an upper limit,
   namely that a rock can only become so sharp.  We have already noticed
   a slight decline in the growth of hand-ax sharpness, but Klomp insists
   that when the potential of stone axes becomes exhausted, new materials
   will be discovered to replace the rocks and continue the exponential
   trend of sharpness.  As of the time of this article, however, he has
   provided no evidence of what these miracle rocks are.  Klomp also
   argues that there will come a time when we will use tools to create
   other tools, though naturally this is a laughable fiction since there
   has never been any recorded evidence of a tool making another tool, or
   even any records for that matter.

   Another factor in Klomp's post-simian world is the development of
   "abstract thought" that will be aided by

     "the ability to store memories and thoughts outside our brains onto
     physical media, perhaps on flattened tree bark.  To achieve this we
     will have to overcome the problem of turning words, which are
     sounds, into things we can see, but given current trends this is an
     engineering issue that will ultimately be resolved.  This will be
     the real catalyst for the Quickening, when the memories of one
     generation will literally become immortal and then build upon the
     memories of the next, creating a sort of mass mind that experts in
     my field are calling "history." In the post-simian world our era
     might even be referred to as pre-history."

   Here we see Klomp's predictions descend from unsupported speculation
   to sheer fantasy.  His recent cave painting, The Quickening is Near,
   explains in great detail different methods we may employ to transform
   words into some kind of visible format, but all are incomplete.  The
   simple fact remains that words are sounds, not pictures, and no amount
   of wishing will change that.  Even if such a thing were possible, it
   is doubtful that many would wish to store their memories externally.
   This author, for one, would prefer it if his memories stayed in his
   head and not on some cold, lifeless bark.

   The most shocking of Klomp's predictions, however, is that we apes
   will have little or no place in the post-simian world.

     "As technological progress outpaces biology, new selective
     pressures will arise that will force our species to evolve mentally
     and physically beyond what we are now.  This is the same trend that
     gave rise to our own intelligent species, but it will only
     accelerate in the coming generations.  Our new environment
     increasingly favors higher dexterity and intelligence, and so the
     true post-simian will not be an ape at all.  It will share some
     similarities with the modern ape, but at the same time possess
     capacities far beyond our comprehension.  The thought capacity of a
     single post-simian could be greater than the combined brains of
     every ape in the world."

   More intelligent than an ape?  Klomp fails to explain just what a
   post-ape can think of that we mere mortals cannot.  The capacity of
   the simian mind is already far beyond any animal in the world:  We are
   capable of using speech to let others know where we are, where to
   sleep and eat, and where to find shelter when it rains.  Exactly how
   fast do we need our brains to be to figure these things out?  When
   will we decide that enough is enough?

   Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that such a post-simian
   future is possible or even probable.  Is it really a world we should
   want to strive for, where our very ape nature is stripped away in the
   name of efficiency?  Technologies such as the bow and arrow already
   desimianize the act of hunting.  While our ancestors were able to
   experience the pure ape feeling of clubbing an animal to death with a
   rock, we are left with the cold, sterilized bow that kills cleanly and
   quickly from a safe distance.  This separation from basic daily
   activities is a slippery slope.  What would happen if we no longer had
   to gather fruits and nuts, and they simply grew wherever we wanted
   them, or had drinking water flow right to our feet instead of
   wandering in search of streams for days?  These seeming conveniences
   would rob us of what it means to be an ape.  Klomp predicts that
   through a technology called 'hygiene' we could extend the simian
   lifespan well into the late 20s or possibly 30s.  What exactly will
   the post-simian do with all that time?  Do we really want to live in a
   society populated by geriatric 27- year- olds?  In living so long and
   spending so much time 'thinking,' do we not also run the risk of
   becoming a cold, passionless race incapable of experiencing our two
   emotions (fear and not fear)?  How much of our simianity are we
   willing to sacrifice for this notion of progress?

   Rest assured that while Klomp may have accru ed a recent following,
   there is no reality to his fantastic claims.  What is concerning is
   the increasing number of young apes spending less time clubbing
   animals and more time 'inventing,' 'thinking' and 'creating,' none of
   which contribute to the preservation of the simian way of life.  These
   sorts of fads come and go, however, and this author is confident that
   in a short while everyone will have forgotten about Klomp and the
   notion of being anything more than an ape."

   -Thog
   Professor of Finding an Animal and then Killing It, 
   The University of the Woods

   -- Translated by Aaron Diaz of Dresden Codak

References

   1. http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_040.html

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Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
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----- End forwarded message -----
-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE