From: Chris Cooper (coop666@earthlink.net)
Date: Tue Mar 20 2001 - 11:42:41 MST
Hi,
I'm breaking out of lurk mode at last,please be gentle.I'm always fascinated by
the unexpected directions these discussions take,but I'd like to start by merely
pointing out one interesting tangent.
> Transhuman means transhumanly
> persuasive... a superintelligence could simply take over a human mind
> given realtime bandwidth, maybe even take over a mind using a memetic
> proxy (ultra-appealing religions, say). Is Old Earth simply to become the
> battleground for people being pushed this way and that by warring radio
> messages from Luna? I don't think that's what the Pedestrians of Old
> Earth will want. But the implication is that once you're a full-flowered
> transhuman, you may not be able to talk to the stay-behinds, even people
> who want to talk to you, because then the people who talk to you can't
> talk to anyone else. If you want to stick around on Old Earth and see if
> you can get your conservative parents to come with you, it means that you
> may need to hold off on the transcendence for a while.
>
> Now maybe I'm just damaged by growing up in a heavily Southern Baptist
> environment,but these discussions of the Singularity begin to sound like New
> Testament/Revelations-type stuff.I'm fascinated by this.I'm not a religious
> person myself,an atheist in fact,but the parallels often give me pause.Could
> these similarities be due to the universal nature of human faith and zealotry?I
> have no doubt that the folks on this list BELIEVE in the inevitability on the
> Singularity,with just as much passion as a devoted Christian(or
> Jew,Muslim,etc.)Is the Singularity the current,technology-friendly version of
> the same world ending/transforming myths that are at the heart of all the
> world's religions?Or,(excuse me for some old-school sci-fi thinking)Have the
> post-Singularity Transhumans,having no doubt mastered all kinds of crazy stuff
> like time travel,actually planted these myths in our culture,as preparation for
> the inevitable?Or,a third possibility,which has been previously discussed
> here,are we all living in a simulation right now?This would easily explain away
> all these questions of coincidence.
COOP
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