[ExI] Where’s my body’s Control Panel?

[Dan]

--- On Thu, 4/9/09, John K Clark <jonkc at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>> Where’s my body’s Control Panel?
> 
> Evolution didn’t deem to give us a control panel,
> probably because positive
> feedback loops have little survival value. However in the
> future there is no
> reason we couldn’t develop one. I image most of us would
> push the
> happiness slide switch on the control panel as far right as
> it will go,
> so too the “pride in successfully accomplishing a
> difficult task” slide.
> I’m pretty sure those will be the most popular settings.
> It could also be the reason we don’t see ET.

That would depend on the rate at which ETIs are produced and when they develop a "body control panel" and [ab]use it.  It's conceivable, e.g., that humans could've started settling space or other planets decades ago -- in other words, long before they could seriously attempt something like a body control panel.  Once off world, my guess is they would've rapidly expanded into the solar system and, with something like Orion, even started on interstellar travel and colonization by now.  (Granted, another alternative path would be where the body control panel is developed a lot earlier too.  With only one datum to look at, it's hard to say which is more likely.)  Then we'd have to think about if humans had started a fairly ambitious expansion program -- along with creating lots of noise -- how quickly a body control panel would spread and be [ab]used through all the colonies.

Regards,

Dan