<DIV>Damien Broderick wrote:</DIV> <DIV>*Human* history, maybe. But how unlucky to have been born (and, very <BR>likely, die) so early in *sophont* history. </DIV> <DIV>></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Damn! Some of us do have the worst luck. I often feel the same way. What I like about cryonics/transhumanism is that it gives me hope of just barely by the skin of my teeth making it. Damien, you are the sort of thoughtful & kind and yet tough & sarcastic guy that I definitely want to see make it to "the other side." You will tell those haughty Posthumans where to go when they display an attitude! </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I was curious to see if *sophont* meant anything different from *sentient* and so I went "a-googling" for an answer. I came across <A href="http://jessesword.com/sf/home">http://jessesword.com/sf/home</A> which brought back fond teen memories of
when I had an SF artbook (who was that artist and writer?) that provided many classic definitions combined with great illustrations. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>you continue:</DIV> <DIV>Then again, those great minds might, after all, find something to envy in us: recall those <BR>haunting words of St. Arthur Clarke:<BR></DIV> <DIV>"They will have time enough, in those endless aeons, to attempt all <BR>things, and to gather all knowledge. They will not be like gods, <BR>because no gods imagined by our minds have ever possessed the powers <BR>they will command. But for all that, they may envy us, basking in the <BR>bright afterglow of Creation; for we knew the Universe when it was young."<BR>></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Perhaps I was forever scarred by reading Lovecraft in my formative years but I see humanity going out into the cosmos and then getting "our ass handed to us" by the powers lurking out there.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>John Grigg : (<BR><BR></DIV><BR><p>
<hr size=1>Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48252/*http://mobile.yahoo.com/mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC"> mobile search
that gives answers</a>, not web links.