Re: SENTISM

Bryan Moss (bryan.moss@dial.pipex.com)
Mon, 24 Aug 1998 13:53:33 +0100

Avatar Polymorph wrote:

> Strictly speaking, it is transhumanists who are
> being non-rational, by not acknowledging the
> nature of boosting. PEOPLE ARE ANIMALS. ALL
> BEINGS ARE CAPABLE OF BEING BOOSTED BY MIXTURES
> OF APPLICABLE NEUROLOGICAL MODIFICATION SYSTEMS,
> FOR EXAMPLE DNA COMPUTERS, DENDRIMER POLYMER
> DNA, INTRA-CELLULAR NANOTECHNOLOGY AND
> CONSTRUCTED NON-'ORGANIC' NEURAL CIRCUITRY.

We already "boost" other species. Cows, for instance, make great food. Trees make good furniture. You may think neurologically modifying a dog is more "moral" than eating one, but I see no difference. In both cases we're changing the animal for our purposes.

> Transhumanists fail to focus on this issue,
> despite being more logical than most human
> beings currently around... why?

There have been discussions here before about uploading animals. And I think a large number of our discussions apply to boosting the utility of matter - be it animal, vegetable or mineral.

BM