Re: Why do we seek to transcend ourselves?

From: Anand (trans_humanism@msn.com)
Date: Mon Jul 15 2002 - 07:31:53 MDT


Ben Goertzel wrote:
>
> Someone just asked me this question in a private e-mail:
>
> "P.S, I have always wondered one thing, if i may ask you this?
> Why do we as humans, feel the need to create something with the possibility
> of being much greater than us? interms of Intelligence and awareness (And
> even possibly, in Physical Strength.) I figured I would ask you this,
> because you are a scientist."

A lot of us have dreams but many do not know how to effectively achieve them.
One of my dreams has been to _effectively_ help people (e.g., by improving
their choices in life). Learning how to effectively help people is one
problem and the main determinant of our ability to solve it is our quality of
intelligence. Therefore, solving the problem of effectively and safely
improving our quality of intelligence is the most effective way to solve all
remaining problems.

Mr. Yudkowsky's response to the above question is similar to my own; however,
I did have the response in mind before I received Mr. Yudkowsky's message, so
I'm only guilty of implicit copying.

Sincerely,

Anand



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