[extropy-chat] Re: ENOUGH already

[Bill Hibbard]

--- Damien Broderick <thespike at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I just obtained Bill McKibben's much praised diatribe ENOUGH from the
> library.  ...

I discuss Bill McKibben's End of Nature in my own book,
Super-Intelligent Machines. He laments that humans have
conquered nature so thoroughly that there are no truly
wild spaces left. It is not enough for him that humans
preserve nature in parks - he wants unexplored territory.

His lament is misguided in a couple ways. First, there
is plenty of wild physical space left in the oceans and
really wild space beyond the earth's atmosphere. Second,
the great unexplored territory of nature is how biology
and mind work. The ability to create artificial minds
will lead humans into the wildest space we've ever been
to (the title of one of Ben Goertzel's books is Wild
Computing).

McKibben derives spritual inspriation from wild nature,
but if he had more imagination he would realize there
is much greater spiritual inspiration in the creation
of artificial minds far beyond the abilities of human
minds. The true nature lovers are the transhumanists,
not those focused on nostalgia for the past.

Of course, he and others will never be able to stop
the singularity. The industrial countries are pouring
money into computer technology and biological research
as fast as they can. The drive to explore wild spaces
that McKibben claims is lost, is actually very much
alive. He just can't recognize it.

Cheers,
Bill
----------------------------------------------------------
Bill Hibbard, SSEC, 1225 W. Dayton St., Madison, WI  53706
test at demedici.ssec.wisc.edu  608-263-4427  fax: 608-263-6738
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~billh/vis.html