[ExI] YES! Hard-core transhumanist splinter groups yearning for cyber-heaven

natasha at natasha.cc natasha at natasha.cc
Wed Jun 16 22:12:11 UTC 2010


Quoting Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com>:

> On 6/16/2010 4:11 PM, Gregory Jones wrote:
>
>> The central point of transhumanism is the notion that it is physically
>> possible to upload sentience into another substrate.

It's not the central core.  It a supposition.  The central core of  
transhumanism is to enhance ourselves and to improve the human  
condition by reshaping our biology for the purpose of not dying and  
unfixing our existence to our biology.  What we will become is  
unknown.  Uploading is one avenue, and not the only one.  We don't  
have to upload to exist indefinitely.

> Yes, the alternative is dissolution and death. But one of the prime
> identity problems is that some proposed methods of "uploading" do
> require the obliteration of an original identity and its reconstruction
> "on a different substrate".

I'm not sure the "obliteration" of original identity is a given.

> Guilio and many others assert that in a
> world where this is possible, people will quickly lose their qualms and
> accept copying as equivalent to migration. No doubt. I don't accept
> that, as it happens, but I don't agree that this makes me a non- or
> anti-transhumanist.

I'm not sure people will migrate in this way, but for those who want  
to, it ought to be valued as an option. The fact that you do not want  
to do this definitely does not make you anti-transhumanist!  In fact,  
there ought to be diversity of evolution and the core of transhumanism  
is that we get some control on our evolution and shape ourselves - not  
be sequestered to any one person's vision of what that evolution could  
be.  And, if morphological freedom is to be a valid salvo for  
self-directed evolution, then you choose what you want to be come.

> But of course if I get booted out of the club on these grounds, I won't
> be especially upset, or pine. It's just a label...

This isn't a club.  Nevertheless, we ought to engage diversity and  
even promote it.

Natasha






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