[ExI] Social implications of widespread extropian/positivist ideals

Kevin Freels reasonerkevin at yahoo.com
Tue Mar 9 20:14:33 UTC 2010






________________________________
From: Will Steinberg <steinberg.will at gmail.com>
To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Fri, March 5, 2010 12:38:09 PM
Subject: [ExI] Social implications of widespread extropian/positivist ideals

For one second alight your computronium towers and consider our good friends the h.p., also known as regular people.  If we do expect to have something like a singularity within the next century, or at least a turning towards this sort of thing, good old Common Joes must be factored into the equation.  Joe is most people.  From what I see, there are two major problems regarding a shift to scientific ideals.  This is of course assuming that said shift is something we want, which I am assuming for easier progress in the future.  I'm sure we could preserve the thing we've got going where common folk use the products of technological progress without understanding them like we have with the internet today, but I fear this would lead straight to a Fahrenheit 451 style 4-wall TV sort of thing.  It's the duty of us intellectuals to enlighten the masses and provide fuel for the Rerenaissance.  Anyway, here are the two problems.  I'm just going to ask the
 questions as not to make a super-lengthy post, but these are real, serious obstacles to any sort of singularitan future:

Problem 1 (The Thinkularity): How do we get from today, where religion is widespread and science is often seen as "the badguy" to a world where people embrace mindnets and space travel and good energy solutions?

Problem 2 (Post-Thinkularity):  Are there unforeseen complications with the entire world doing away with free will and all that stuff associated with positivism?  Might we see an increase in crimes because people see that they are no longer bound by choice (heh, bound by choice)?  And will the relatively "cold" mindset associated with science in comparison to religion cause more people to lose their proverbial marbles?


Kevin Freels said:

This is a speciation event and just as in other such events, the current species will continue to live on past the point where the new species branches off. It may continue for hundreds or even thousands of years, or it may become extinct quickly. My best guess is that as long as there are resources available for h. sapiens, they will continue to exist along side h. singularis or whatever you want to call them. 

I would also suspect that there would be a number of different post-singularity species around at the same time. You will have those who shun the meat-body and prefer a mechanical body, and those who choose to live with no body at all. I wonder at times about reproduction run amok when you could have people making multiple copies of themselves at such an enormous rate that there would be civilizations rising and falling, and battles for the limited space within whatever material they were living within would happen in seconds. How that all attaches to the "real" world is just beyond my comprehension. Time would be completely different for such "people". 

I also suspect that rather than having some amazing "singularity", there will be a number of false starts and failures on the way. Evolutionary dead-ends such as h neanderthalensis or a africanus will come and go before a truly successful singularity takes off. 

It's funny how I always envisioned the year 2010 as being some shining and glittering computerized world dominated by high technology with very few ties to the past. The reality is much different. The technology is present and widespread, but occasionally you see someone driving a Model T, or a 57 Chevy, many businesses still don't have websites, people still talk in person, and hammers and stones are still used in construction of homes. After the singularity, I really don't expect any of that to go away. Instead they will continue along side and will evolve along their own path just as Chimpanzees do today. 
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