[ExI] FW: How fun could doom intelligent life to a blissful extinction

[spike at rainier66.com]

If you are in a hurry, go to the last paragraph please, all of yas, thx.
spike



-----Original Message-----
From: efc at swisscows.email <efc at swisscows.email> 
Subject: RE: [ExI] FW: How fun could doom intelligent life to a blissful
extinction

Hello Spike,

>...I agree, that sounds very reasonable. I also wonder if there is some
kind of correlation between high intelligence and the tendency to memetic
offspring and reduction in genetic offspring?

Ja, here's another take on it.  Low intelligence people are better at making
genetic offspring than their counterparts, but the more intellectual sorts
are better at making memetic offspring than their dumber counterparts.

>...The extremely highly intelligent people I met in my life, from my very
limited and subjective point of view, tended to have fewer children, if any
at all...

Ja.  There are multiple ways of looking at that.  The lower intellectual
people have far more access to the mainstream, people who the high intellect
crowd wouldn't bother even talking to, regardless of how hot the person is.
Oy vey it is difficult to express that idea without sounding like a
conceited elitist bahstid.  But think about it.  Mainstream.  Your crowd.
Compare sizes of those groups please.  What are you doing right now?
Thinking and posting to a talking heads think tank?  Or watching enormous
men pretend to battle in a boxing ring?  Which of those activities are
favored by the mainstream please?

>...I also find the reasoning behind the genetics interesting. Some tell me
that its their way to some kind of immortality, but they only pass on 50% of
their genes. Those genes in themselves, assuming a wider family tree, are
already out there and will in theory be spread around...

Genetic reproduction does not offer immortality in any sense.  Only not
dying can do that.  Memetic reproduction offers a kind of immortality, in a
very limited sense.  I personally found genetic reproduction to be
enormously satisfying and fulfilling, worth every dollar and every minute
invested in the activity, a hundred times over, even though it isn't the
path to immortality.

>...Then, among the memers, there are other takes on the theme. Spreading
ideas or through economic activity ensuring that their actions are part of
the web of the human market/culture etc. This can also include philanthropy
for instance.

Best regards,
Daniel

Ja.  Making this short life better for other people is the most worthwhile
activity I can imagine.

Speaking of which...

I need a little favor from every person who is reading this please, won't
cost you a cent, only take a few minutes.  About ten years ago, you may
recall a friend of mine, Christine Lajeunesse, who was a surgeon in Reno was
shot by a deranged patient.  For several days we didn't know if she would
live or die.  Her colleague did not survive, but she did.  The shooting
ended her surgery career.  I called upon my chat groups to write her letters
of encouragement, so we had a bunch of comments by Extropians, motorcycle
people, math people, Mersenne people, yakkity yaks and bla blas all writing
notes of encouragement, we printed them all out and cut them, pasted them on
the back of a big get well poster.  She still has that poster to this day.
She says that poster helped her thru some tough times.

OK then.  Last Sunday, my son's childhood friend was in a bad accident, van
hit her on her bicycle.  She is busted up all to hell, comatose for three
and a half days, but when she woke up yesterday she was still Marilyn,
asking all the expected questions.  She has going in her favor that she was
a track star and in excellent physical condition.  This is the girl who
organized a non-profit math tutoring service at her high school, was a gold
medalist athlete, eagle in Boy Scouts, gold rank in girl scouts (two
different things) was scheduled to be the head of next week's National Youth
Leadership Training for Boy Scouts of America, just all around good kid.
Here's what I need from you please: write a sentence or two of encouragement
to the patient, considering what you would feel if you were a teenage track
star who suddenly needs to spend a few weeks at least in the hospital with
nothing to do.  If you have other chat groups, forward this paragraph, ask
them to please write a line or two for a teenage accident victim, forward
the comments and well-wishes to me.  We are friends with her family.  I will
print, cut out, paste hard copy into handmade get-well cards or a poster or
both, take them over to her at the hospital.  Do it please, do it now, do it
with all the good will you can manage.  Post them here, offlist is fine:
spike at rainier66.com and I will take it from there.  Her name is Marilyn Do.
Do it for Do.  Send them.  Do it now pls.  Thanks!

spike

spike at rainier66.com