[ExI] Heroism without self-sacrifice

[Bryan Bishop]

On Thursday 06 March 2008, Max More wrote:
> Your mission--should you choose to accept it--is to reconceptualize
> the hero myth, removing the core element of self-sacrifice.

The hero is the self, the star character of the story. First person does 
it best, it is a process. The core element should be self-creation, not 
self-injury. "Self-creation is the highest art" -- Zindell. Some time 
ago I came across a document that elaborated upon Leibniz's optimism 
which found that since reality will always be reality at its best, and 
will always create to its fullest, and that from moment to moment it 
will be the best of all possible worlds, the remaining process to 
maximize is the self, to the fullest potential. I wrote a while back to 
either SL4 or the AGI mailing list of times when I wonder to what 
extent the results of my thoughts are creating and defining physics and 
mathematics, in the spirit of Egan and perhaps Tegmark, less so Plato. 
In some philosophy, the self (in so much as it can be dissociated from 
the concept of identity and instead to an art that practices itself) is 
said to extend and encompass more than just the local meat sack, but 
instead the world about it, to some extent, as it is just cybernetics 
and signals, whether matter or energy. So, if you genuinely contribute 
to the unfolding story by maximizing self, could you not escape the 
self-sacrifice of the hero myth? No longer is the hero defined 
on 'chivalry' (see the etymology as presented on Wikipedia), nor is the 
hero defined on morality and social customs, but instead on the way 
that the hero approaches reality to maximize self-realization and 
creation, an artist to the core. Here, the hero does not self-sacrifice 
or self-injury, but instead becomes specialized, healthy, optimized, 
a 'citizen' and self-made-master of his arts, meaning creating itself 
in a growing world, a role model, a 'signal' not only of energy but of 
matter and substance so purely (internally) meaningful that it serves 
as a catalyst: the galaxy is a womb for the genesis of gods, no? Wasn't 
that the basis of the Way of Ringess? That all men and women can become 
gods? 

> Essays may be of any length and in any format (but legible please--I  
> have to read and grade a dozen of these things). 

I'd rather not. Let's first discuss.

- Bryan
________________________________________
Bryan Bishop
http://heybryan.org/