The overwhelming majority of humans do, in fact, want to be human, much to the annoyance of the transhumanist minority.
Putting that aside, though, I see what I think is a different problem, though perhaps I’m overgeneralizing from my own motivations. Human endeavors tend to feel worthwhile because they are a challenge. Assuming that we do develop the ability to self-modify, recursively improving our physical and mental abilities, I worry that things will seem better and better—until suddenly they seem worse. When anyone can be as strong or as fast as they want, there will be no such thing as athletics or martial arts. When anyone can be as smart as they want, there will be no such thing as puzzles or games. Etc. When all the hard questions have been answered, what will be left, except wireheading?
I find that I don’t enjoy challenges. I experience no pleasure from being frustrated with a puzzle or struggling against my physical limits. So what do I have to enjoy, devoid of this supposedly essential source of pleasure? I have humor, and stories, and art, and friends, and food, and snuggling in bed because I don’t have to get up yet, and ridiculous wordplay (in the broadest sense) when I’m a little loopy and find repeating the phrase “cherry tart” amusing. Pretty sure I am not a wirehead.
The exciting thing about snowboarding isn’t the challenge [edit of learning to snowboard] it’s being able to do air time with little effort or at least I think so.
The exciting thing about snowboarding isn’t the challenge it’s being able to do air time with little effort or at least I think so.
The appeal to me is based on engineering intuitions. Skis, seriously? Hook up a great big lever to apply torque to a single joint that is not intended to twist that way at all? Something seems wrong when I do that.
I’m not sure, but I think skis were designed for moving across mountainous terrain. I find the whole idea of “cross country snowboard” somewhat absurd, but have seen alpine troops chasing each other down on skis in WW2 documentaries.
Your concept of “challenge” might be too narrow. I know you learn now skills and solve problems. I expect you feel proud when a hard-to-make meal comes out well, or when you’ve kicked the red dragon’s ass and are looting the magic items.
Alternately, maybe you desire to self-modify to enjoy challenge.
I am pleased when I pull off a tricky meal, but I do not attempt astounding feats of molecular gastronomy even if great effort could allow me to accomplish them, and I was also pleased today when I made a simple soup I’ve made often before and it turned out delicious. I enjoy D&D, including the parts where one slays color-coded evil dragons, but one of my DMs recently skipped over a week of time and gave us some treasure and a new level without us having to actually roll dice to kill the giant centipedes we were going to deal with originally, and I think my new level and my shiny new swag are about as pleasing to have as they would have been if I’d experienced the deaths of fictional giant centipedes in more detail.
I still see martial arts and athletics existing, extrapolation from our present situation. Ignoring artificial handicaps and rules, these could well end up being status symbols (depending on the economic system) with people who have the resources to be able to juggle planets being seethingly envious of those rich bastards who can afford bodies and cerebrums strong enough to juggle stars.
The overwhelming majority of humans do, in fact, want to be human, much to the annoyance of the transhumanist minority.
No, they say they want to be human. Few have ever actually tried to reach their reflective equilibrium. Most of them have such a confused worldmodel that they have preferences over equivalent (“identical”) instantiating themselves, in contravention of the best known human physics!
Once cannot hope to claim reflective equilibrium when acting on such a severe error.
The overwhelming majority of humans do, in fact, want to be human, much to the annoyance of the transhumanist minority.
Putting that aside, though, I see what I think is a different problem, though perhaps I’m overgeneralizing from my own motivations. Human endeavors tend to feel worthwhile because they are a challenge. Assuming that we do develop the ability to self-modify, recursively improving our physical and mental abilities, I worry that things will seem better and better—until suddenly they seem worse. When anyone can be as strong or as fast as they want, there will be no such thing as athletics or martial arts. When anyone can be as smart as they want, there will be no such thing as puzzles or games. Etc. When all the hard questions have been answered, what will be left, except wireheading?
I find that I don’t enjoy challenges. I experience no pleasure from being frustrated with a puzzle or struggling against my physical limits. So what do I have to enjoy, devoid of this supposedly essential source of pleasure? I have humor, and stories, and art, and friends, and food, and snuggling in bed because I don’t have to get up yet, and ridiculous wordplay (in the broadest sense) when I’m a little loopy and find repeating the phrase “cherry tart” amusing. Pretty sure I am not a wirehead.
The exciting thing about snowboarding isn’t the challenge [edit of learning to snowboard] it’s being able to do air time with little effort or at least I think so.
The appeal to me is based on engineering intuitions. Skis, seriously? Hook up a great big lever to apply torque to a single joint that is not intended to twist that way at all? Something seems wrong when I do that.
I’m not sure, but I think skis were designed for moving across mountainous terrain. I find the whole idea of “cross country snowboard” somewhat absurd, but have seen alpine troops chasing each other down on skis in WW2 documentaries.
Your concept of “challenge” might be too narrow. I know you learn now skills and solve problems. I expect you feel proud when a hard-to-make meal comes out well, or when you’ve kicked the red dragon’s ass and are looting the magic items.
Alternately, maybe you desire to self-modify to enjoy challenge.
I am pleased when I pull off a tricky meal, but I do not attempt astounding feats of molecular gastronomy even if great effort could allow me to accomplish them, and I was also pleased today when I made a simple soup I’ve made often before and it turned out delicious. I enjoy D&D, including the parts where one slays color-coded evil dragons, but one of my DMs recently skipped over a week of time and gave us some treasure and a new level without us having to actually roll dice to kill the giant centipedes we were going to deal with originally, and I think my new level and my shiny new swag are about as pleasing to have as they would have been if I’d experienced the deaths of fictional giant centipedes in more detail.
No matter how smart you are, there are hard problems. Compute Busy Beaver numbers.
I still see martial arts and athletics existing, extrapolation from our present situation. Ignoring artificial handicaps and rules, these could well end up being status symbols (depending on the economic system) with people who have the resources to be able to juggle planets being seethingly envious of those rich bastards who can afford bodies and cerebrums strong enough to juggle stars.
No, they say they want to be human. Few have ever actually tried to reach their reflective equilibrium. Most of them have such a confused worldmodel that they have preferences over equivalent (“identical”) instantiating themselves, in contravention of the best known human physics!
Once cannot hope to claim reflective equilibrium when acting on such a severe error.