>On Sun, 30 Mar 1997, Guru George wrote:
>
>> Ramble:- That sets me thinking: 'fully human'. Yes, I suppose one would
>> have to start off like that, to make it easier to 'get one's bearings',
>> so to speak. But later on, the fact that you could turn sub-routines on
>> and off at will: how would that affect your psychology? Take pain: it's
>> a warning sign. People who don't feel pain die an early death, it seems.
>> There would be a strong temptation for the uploaded to switch off pain
>> circuitry quite a lot of the time. Would that make you more of a risk
>> taker, or be likely to expose you to more risk?
>
>This is what I would call the "fluidity problem" - you could in principle
>become or feel anything, so how to avoid getting trapped in an attracting
>but useless motivational state (100% bliss or a fundamental belief that
>you present state is the ideal state and should never be changed, no
>matter what)?
>
>I think playing around with our senses like turning on or off pain or
>pleasure can be dealt with using some safeguards (like having reminders
>pop up in the mind etc), but the more general changes are harder to deal
>with.
>
Hmm, it has just occurred to me that there might be a Hayekian
argument here? Maybe the killjoys have a point in that our present
emotional/cognitive setup is functional in ways we don't yet understand,
and perhaps there is some sort of balance there that, if disturbed,
would render it dysfunctional in some way we can't foresee?
Guru George