> As another point, is catalytic use of cannabinoids to trigger healing of
> psychological wounds something you would define as "chemical
> entertainment"? :) When does hedonics not equal transcendence? :)
I'm very wary about doing hedonic engineering (or deep
metaprogramming) without *very* careful planning. When you modify your
own motivational structure, you can easily get trapped in unexpected
or unplanned behavior-attractors. These attractors will since they are
attractors, appear natural or pleasant for you, but they might not be
in accordance with your original goals.
In the long run I of course think we will do a lot of hedonics, it is
after all so fun! (why? because it is hedonics - it is fun/pleasant by
*definition*. Hmm, this seems to suggest that all sufficiently
advanced intelligent entities will be tempted to deal with it) What I
worry about is that so many simply accept that the subjective very
positive results correspond with real positive results - as a
scientist, I want to find good evidence for that before I start
endorsing it as a transhuman technology.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y