[ExI] Transhuman

Mike Dougherty msd001 at gmail.com
Thu Sep 6 12:36:10 UTC 2012


On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 9:06 PM, Joshua Job <nanite1018 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I question that Thoreau was more like himself. He's always himself, just
> under different conditions. The idea that we have some sort of immutable
> nature as individuals is something that is simply wrong. I think it may also
> be a source of problems in a post-human future. Misunderstanding this leads
> to psychological and social problems for current humans.

I concede "more himself" is wrong.  I meant he was less distracted by
the games people play (that you posted below) and therefore had a
larger percentage of his time (approaching 100%) to being himself.

> As for practicality for cosmetics and cosmetic surgery--it seems that humans
> require standards of health and vitality to judge others on. A notion of
> beauty or attractiveness or "hey I should talk to them"-ness is required as
> a heuristic in our dealings with others to constrain the problem of who to
> interact with, particularly with regards to potential sexual partners. It is
> likely a biological fact that such standards of physical attractiveness
> exist.

Agreed.

>
> Given that they are real, then working to conform to them brings you
> practical benefits, in that people like you more, will be more helpful, and
> think you are a more self-confident person (another trait people think
> important).
>
> It would seem that the biology/psychology of humans is what gives
> cosmetic-anything its value.

Right.  then it makes it difficult to ask what _practical_ value
modification of any kind would "be" if those modifications are
expression of one's identity.  It's interesting because the "norm" is
becoming so homogenous in one sense yet superficially diverse in
other.



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list