[extropy-chat] Groupthink and enhancements

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Christian Weisgerber <naddy at mips.inka.de> wrote:
[quite a number of good points, but the only one I'm
responding to here is]
> Given its fundamental position in human psychology,
> group identity
> should be of particular interest to transhumanism,
> both from a
> practical perspective (how will it affect the road
> to a posthuman
> future?  what will be its effects on posthumans?)
> and a theoretical
> one (do we want it?  do we want to get rid of it?). 
> Instead
> transhumanists are unconsciously caught up in it as
> much as everybody
> else.

One thing to consider is that this may well play up
when enhancements (cybernetics, uploading, personal
true-AI assistants, or whatever path bears fruit)
become more real.  At first, the enhanced will be a
minority, and they may well view themselvse as
different groups based on the exact brand of
enhancement they use, they level of effect they
realize from it, and so forth.  Meanwhile, the
unenhanced will almost certainly view themselves as
one big group, once there are enough enhanced to
matter.

The upshot?  In short, "with power comes
responsibility" in spades.  Those who are enhanced
will have to be extra-careful not to seem as a threat
to the rest of humanity, and make sure their fellow
enhanced either are the same or are easily
identifiable (and identified) to the unenhanced as a
different group.  Otherwise, the enhanced will find
their blessing turning into a curse - at worst, a
death sentence and nobody else willing to follow their
path.

This should clamp down on any very quick (say, high
exponential growth) Singularity outcomes that most of
the world would view as evil once it happened*.  Power
over others can only be given, never truly taken by
force, so the smartest sentient being in the world can
not do much if everyone else actively hates it and
seeks its termination.

(* I include this because this necessarily includes
any details of the specific version - details which
are almost never present in general predictions.)