"john grigg" <starman125@hotmail.com> writes:
> I DID NOT NEED TO KNOW THAT!
This is an interesting response. If I understand it and the context correctly, John got a negative reaction by reading what Ken wrote and now suggests that the world would have been better if Ken's original posting had not been done.
It is somewhat similar to the response some people have to science - they feel that just because some scientist now knows how rainbows, sunsets, butterflies or emotions work, they lose their wonder. They feel that the act of understanding or knowing something - even if they themselves remain ignorant of the details - decreases the beauty of the world. The only reason I can see for that kind of reasoning is that they believe in mysticism, in the sense that they value the unknown and unknowable more highly than the real and known. Not a very rational way of thinking.
John's response is rather an emotional reaction and seems more based on a dislike for what Ken was doing. Which brings up another interesting issue: As transhumanists, I think we should train ourselves to be tolerant. I mean, if we can't stand our neighbours love lives, how can we survive in a world where some people will modify their very motivational systems or devise utterly new memes?
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