[ExI] millionaires and billionaires

[Kelly Anderson]

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 10:31 AM, David Lubkin <lubkin at unreasonable.com> wrote:
> Kelly wrote:
>
>> So the take home question for each of us is "what are we?" And when we
>> become more of what we are, will that be a good thing or a bad thing?
>
> Interesting.

Thanks.

> One piece you're leaving out though is that much the same enabling
> technology will also allow you to change yourself in fundamental
> ways.

Yes this is possible... but will that leave us being ourselves? Some
of my kids take powerful medications that change their brain
chemistry. In a very real way, they are not themselves, and that's in
2011.. So I see your point, and it is a good one. The question then
becomes, if you could change your personality, would you choose to do
so, and just how would you change it?

I pretty much like where I am right now... I would like to understand
people better... learn more about how to keep people I love from
getting hurt... the typical regrets. But I can't think of a
personality trait I would change... Perhaps if I could make myself
crawl back into the hole of believing in God, I might be tempted to do
that, just for the security blanket of it all ... :-)

> For millennia, people have been dissatisfied with themselves, with
> their personality or how it manifests in behavior. And sought to
> change it. That will become much easier and more thorough.

If you are dissatisfied, yes. People will do that. I don't think I
will, but maybe. Happy pills anyone? :-)

> Just as John Varley looked at the ramifications of a society where a
> complete, wholly functional sex change is as easy as getting your
> hair permed, where you might have given birth to some of your
> children and sired others, one can imagine that the qualities you talk
> about would become malleable at will.

In VR, nobody knows you're a kangaroo...

> There has been some sf that's played with this: A society where
> personality is a matter of fashion. Or you can dial down your boyfriend's
> jealousy.

Ah, if other people have charge of my personality, then I'm SURE it
would be changed... LOL!!!

> (The classic that will instantly come to Damien's mind is Cordwainer
> Smith's "Scanners Live in Vain," which lures you in with its first lines --
>
> Martel was angry. He did not even adjust his blood away from anger.)

And why would he? :-)

-Kelly