Glen Finney has written,
>> This is why I am a transhumanist....after all, if what either Julian
>>or
>>J.R. have said about power is true, then what does that say about us
>>transhumanists who seek to stride amonst the stars for eternity?
Indeed, as you say, power may magnify and amplify attributes. But from whence comes corruption, and why should not humans become transhumans in proportion as they transcend the corruptible influence of genetics and carbon-based biology? IOW, genuine transhumanism can mean overcoming the desire for power, or for anything else. The thoroughly extropic demi-god does not eat galaxies out of lust for power, but rather out of need for the power of galaxies to sustain the humble hermitage which contains trillions and trillions of tranquilly creative transhumans.
Phil Osborn commented,
>We of the West, however, make a virtual leap of faith in assuming that
>objectivity also rules social/ethical/political issues. Thus, we both
>condemn and expect some kind of satisfaction from the politician or manager
>who abuses his position. Not true of Eastern cultures.
The co-worker who becomes a jerk boss always (secretly) wanted to become a jerk boss. The seed of power-abuse must already reside in the abuser. Power only provides the opportunity for latent attributes to emerge and grow, it does not insinuate any value of its own.
If you had a window into the mind of a sleeping saint, you'd see the dreams of a criminal. Culture does not consist in geography. Algebra works the same in the East as it does in the West. "Art is Art, water is water, East is East and West is West. And if you take cranberries and stew them up with applesauce they taste more like prunes than rhubarb does... Now you tell me what _you_ know." --Groucho Marx
Power cannot corrupt anything, because, as Glen pointed out, it only magnifies what already exists. What does this say about transhumanists who transcend desire? It says that only choicelessly aware transhumanists shall discover the way to that which abides ineffably. It says that in order to stride amongst the stars forever, you will return to the place where you began, and know it for the first time. Only stories have beginnings and endings. Reality has no beginning and no end. <burp>