On a mailing list I subscribe to, someone recently asked me if I subscribe to any philosophical or spiritual beliefs, and what they are. If you don’t care, then I won’t bother you with the answer; otherwise:
I am an extropian. Put most simply, what that means is that I believe a system’s capacity for intelligence and information can and generally does improve over time.
Put more completely, it means that I believe the human potential, as with the potential of any complex, dynamic, evolving system, is open-ended. I believe that human systems tend over time to amass increasing amounts of knowledge and understanding about, and ability to control and manipulate, the physical world; that there are no arbitrary upper limits on that increase save for those imposed by the laws of physics themselves; and that as a consequence of this increasing capacity for information and ability, complex systems such as human societies tend toward an increasing capacity for freedom of action, including an increasing capacity for overcoming obstacles and limitations.
I have faith in the human potential. I think history demonstrates that human beings have continually improved their ability to understand the physical world, and that as that understanding increases, we gain the ability to do amost anything in the physical world not prohibited by the laws of physics. That includes extending our knowledge of ourselves and other biological systems to the point where many biological constraints we take for granted today, including processes such as ageing, can be controlled; extending our knowledge of materials sciences to the point where we can manipulate matter on a structural and atomic level in almost any way not prohibited by physics, including the ability to engineer structures on levels both far smaller and far larger than what we can do today; and so on.
I also believe that the universe operates according to principles which are knowable, observable, and comprehensible; and that rational and analytical thought, combined with experimentation and empirical observation, are tools with which those fundamental principles can be understood. I believe that constantly challenging ideas, including the ideas that I’ve laid out here, is a necessary and vital part of understanding the natural world, and that those who do not challenge their own ideas are fundamentally and fatally handicapped in their ability to progress.
Beautifully put.
I usually just list out “BEST DO IT SO” and expand the terms when asked, but your description puts it all into a much more cohesive thesis.
“BEST DO IT SO”
Hee hee. That’s my slashdot sig quote.
BEST DO IT SO
BEST DO IT SO
by E. Shaun Russell
At the hem of the galaxy I’m always free
Optimistically dynamic, dynamic optimistically
When I can see things that others do not know
I am confident in my competence to best do it so
I know that I could turn back and obey the propounds
But there’s no way I’d forego the prospect of expanding my bounds
For I shall surpass the limits of where most men fear to go
Grasp the opportunity to best do it so
My ordered spontaneity
My interstellar gaiety
Be exactly what I want to be
To do it best, I do it free
The only way to keep myself from stagnation
Is to continuously adjust my thoughts –self transformation
To go beyond invisible bounds is a sure way for me to grow
Go where I desire, best do it so
Individuality can lead to originality
Pursue a distant goal, manifest this stellar quality
The power is within you, there is nothing to bestow
Transcend the moral boundaries and best do it so
Ordered spontaneity
Interstellar gaiety
Be exactly what you want to be
You will do it best if you do it free
Hindrances transgressed
Never cease to be the best
Go farther than all others go
Be free –best do it so
Unveil sacrosanct mysteries
Prove the faults of histories
Outward travel evermore
Best do it so, best you explore
Beautifully put.
I usually just list out “BEST DO IT SO” and expand the terms when asked, but your description puts it all into a much more cohesive thesis.
I like Snicker’s more then Milkyway’s.
Oh yea, and I’m an extropian too. I belive humanity is a good start, but a real fixer upper.
I like Snicker’s more then Milkyway’s.
Oh yea, and I’m an extropian too. I belive humanity is a good start, but a real fixer upper.
I have so clearly fallen in with the right crowd. It’s difficult to be your archnemesis when at the core I completely agree with you.
Actually, I’d think that would make you the *best* archnemesis. I’m reminded of Magneto and Prof. X — the two of them had *so* much in common insofar as their ultimate goals; it was in their tactics and motives that the conflict arose. As a result, certain actions of the one helped to advance the cause of the other.
Why do *all* the work if your archnemesis can do most of it, and you just step in at the end and take control and credit for it?
I have so clearly fallen in with the right crowd. It’s difficult to be your archnemesis when at the core I completely agree with you.
“BEST DO IT SO”
Hee hee. That’s my slashdot sig quote.
Hear, hear. (hey… there’s another one for your grammar page: it’s not “here here.”)
But it’s amazing how repugnant these ideas seem to be to how many people.
What a strange bunch of people. I especially liked the guy that thought Thanatos would ‘Get a body’ and destroy all mankind. He’s quoting a piece of fiction there isn’t he?
Most of these anti-transhums seem to have this concept that they know exactly what ‘mankind’ will do if it transcends humanity. How can you be so arrogant as to assume you know anything about what post-humanity can be? By definition, we can’t really imagine anything beyond the singularity.
And all of that aside, what are our alternatives? Transhuminisum is just the natural extension of the medical and scientific endeavor that mankind has been engaging in since we made fire. Should we outlaw innovation? Dumb down all those who seek to improve the human condition?
At what point to we say, “Ok. Humanity knows enough now. No more research, innovation or improvement from this day forward”?
OH well. Like the Luddites of the 1900’s, these people will simply cease to be relevant when they are left behind.
Hear, hear. (hey… there’s another one for your grammar page: it’s not “here here.”)
But it’s amazing how repugnant these ideas seem to be to how many people.
What a strange bunch of people. I especially liked the guy that thought Thanatos would ‘Get a body’ and destroy all mankind. He’s quoting a piece of fiction there isn’t he?
Most of these anti-transhums seem to have this concept that they know exactly what ‘mankind’ will do if it transcends humanity. How can you be so arrogant as to assume you know anything about what post-humanity can be? By definition, we can’t really imagine anything beyond the singularity.
And all of that aside, what are our alternatives? Transhuminisum is just the natural extension of the medical and scientific endeavor that mankind has been engaging in since we made fire. Should we outlaw innovation? Dumb down all those who seek to improve the human condition?
At what point to we say, “Ok. Humanity knows enough now. No more research, innovation or improvement from this day forward”?
OH well. Like the Luddites of the 1900’s, these people will simply cease to be relevant when they are left behind.
BEST DO IT SO
BEST DO IT SO
by E. Shaun Russell
At the hem of the galaxy I’m always free
Optimistically dynamic, dynamic optimistically
When I can see things that others do not know
I am confident in my competence to best do it so
I know that I could turn back and obey the propounds
But there’s no way I’d forego the prospect of expanding my bounds
For I shall surpass the limits of where most men fear to go
Grasp the opportunity to best do it so
My ordered spontaneity
My interstellar gaiety
Be exactly what I want to be
To do it best, I do it free
The only way to keep myself from stagnation
Is to continuously adjust my thoughts –self transformation
To go beyond invisible bounds is a sure way for me to grow
Go where I desire, best do it so
Individuality can lead to originality
Pursue a distant goal, manifest this stellar quality
The power is within you, there is nothing to bestow
Transcend the moral boundaries and best do it so
Ordered spontaneity
Interstellar gaiety
Be exactly what you want to be
You will do it best if you do it free
Hindrances transgressed
Never cease to be the best
Go farther than all others go
Be free –best do it so
Unveil sacrosanct mysteries
Prove the faults of histories
Outward travel evermore
Best do it so, best you explore
Actually, I’d think that would make you the *best* archnemesis. I’m reminded of Magneto and Prof. X — the two of them had *so* much in common insofar as their ultimate goals; it was in their tactics and motives that the conflict arose. As a result, certain actions of the one helped to advance the cause of the other.
Why do *all* the work if your archnemesis can do most of it, and you just step in at the end and take control and credit for it?