I also wonder if the extreme “abolitionist” position (with regard to suffering) should be listed along anti-aging and intelligence enhancement. Abolitionism seems like it might be off-putting even to people who might support the first two planks.
“Health is a state of complete [sic] physical, mental and social well-being”: the World Health Organization definition of health. Knb, I don’t doubt that sometimes you’re right. But Is phasing out the biology of involuntary suffering really too “extreme”—any more than radical life-extension or radical intelligence-amplification? When talking to anyone new to transhumanism, I try also to make the most compelling case I can for radical superlongevity and extreme superintelligence—biological, Kurzweilian and MIRI conceptions alike. Yet for a large minority of people—stretching from Buddhists to wholly secular victims of chronic depression and chronic pain disorders—dealing with suffering in one guise or another is the central issue. Recall how for hundreds of millions of people in the world today, time hangs heavy—and the prospect of intelligence-amplification without improved subjective well-being leaves them cold. So your worry cuts both ways.
Anyhow, IMO the makers of the BIOPS video have done a fantastic job. Kudos.
I gather future episodes of the series will tackle different conceptions of posthuman superintelligence—not least from the MIRI perspective.
I also wonder if the extreme “abolitionist” position (with regard to suffering) should be listed along anti-aging and intelligence enhancement. Abolitionism seems like it might be off-putting even to people who might support the first two planks.
“Health is a state of complete [sic] physical, mental and social well-being”: the World Health Organization definition of health. Knb, I don’t doubt that sometimes you’re right. But Is phasing out the biology of involuntary suffering really too “extreme”—any more than radical life-extension or radical intelligence-amplification? When talking to anyone new to transhumanism, I try also to make the most compelling case I can for radical superlongevity and extreme superintelligence—biological, Kurzweilian and MIRI conceptions alike. Yet for a large minority of people—stretching from Buddhists to wholly secular victims of chronic depression and chronic pain disorders—dealing with suffering in one guise or another is the central issue. Recall how for hundreds of millions of people in the world today, time hangs heavy—and the prospect of intelligence-amplification without improved subjective well-being leaves them cold. So your worry cuts both ways.
Anyhow, IMO the makers of the BIOPS video have done a fantastic job. Kudos. I gather future episodes of the series will tackle different conceptions of posthuman superintelligence—not least from the MIRI perspective.
It… was, wasn’t it? Or did I mistake the bit about David Pearce and the elimination of suffering?
It was. I’m saying I don’t think it should have been.
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