[ExI] Effectiveness of democracy as a result of selection bias

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/7/1 Henrique Moraes Machado <cetico.iconoclasta at gmail.com>:
> Stathis Papaioannou> The post-scarcity society will not come by addressing
> supply, but by
>>
>> addressing demand. A radical way to do this would be to have direct
>> control of your brain so that you can modify your desires and second
>> order desires. If I have $1000 I want $2000; but if instead of going
>> to the trouble getting the extra thousand I could modify my mind so
>> that I could be in every way *just as satisfied* with the thousand I
>> already have, why wouldn't I? The end result would be that I adjust my
>> mind so that I am motivated to do only those things which I consider
>> of intrinsic worth, or those things which I think I *ought* to
>> consider of intrinsic worth.
>
> So... the post-humanism will make us buddhists? :-)

It has parallels with Buddhism; this hadn't occurred to me, thank-you.
I suppose a difference is that Buddhism sees desire as bad in itself
and something to be relinquished, whereas the posthumanist would deal
with the problem by adjusting desire so that it is consistent with
what is felt to be intrinsically good and achievable. Also, the
posthuman will be able to achieve nirvana by flicking a switch in his
head rather than donning saffron robes and living as an ascetic, which
I think the Buddhists might regard that as cheating.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou