[ExI] Posthuman Intelligence

BillK pharos at gmail.com
Sun Apr 25 20:19:28 UTC 2010


I found some old temporary folders from years ago under the debris at
the bottom of my computer.  I often write responses to posts (just to
keep in practice) and never get round to
sending them. Some are over the daily posting limit, some are just
toooo annoying, some use terrible bad language, some are really
tedious and boring, etc....

This one still reads quite well and may be of interest.

The subject was individuality and how terrible the future Borg society
would be.
I wrote this to defend the much-maligned Borg.

-------------------------------

An M brain 'society' is not dystopian.  It is wonderful. No
loneliness, no poverty, no unmet needs.

It is the complete opposite of a dictatorship saying 'Ve haf ways to
make you happy!'.

People will choose to join in because remaining as we are now would be
terrible deprivation. Try to imagine being blind and deaf, in solitary
confinement, with no web access or  communication, multiplied a few
million times. That's what opting out would be like.

But humanity won't have to make that choice. It will be a lot of
little insignificant choices, a  gradual enhancement procedure.
Always-on communications, between people and the web, virtual
telepresence, brain enhancements, mood control, body enhancements,
computer info overlays on your eyeball, spending more and more time in
virtual reality worlds, etc. The machines will then merge into the
human body so that it will be unthinkable (if not impossible) to live
without them.

Uploading will be the final small step.
It really won't seem like a big deal by the time it becomes available.

Look at the young folk for the trends.
The Facebook class of phenomenon, blogs, emails, forums, chat rooms,
people walking around IM texting each other. chatting on their mobile,
sending photos to each other, swapping music, etc. In May 2006 the UK
sent a record 3.3 billion phone text messages.
The new generation *want* to be always in communication with their
friends. They cannot decide what they think about some new item until
they have discussed it with their friends.

There are a lot more details to be filled in and alternatives along
the route, but the overall direction is clear to me.


BillK



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