From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Sat Aug 23 2003 - 12:49:24 MDT
Another factor worth taking into account is that a lot gets done despite
people being lazy, stupid and misguided. It is easy to fall into the
trap of assuming that everybody ought to be as smart and reasonable as
oneself. But it is also easy to think that everybody is an idiot - it is
mostly a matter of current mood and personality. In reality there is an
even mix of people, and no futuristic project based on assuming that
people are homogeneous has any real chance of working.
Transhumanist discussion often assumes that transhumanists have a key
position - as an avant garde leading the revolution, as the architects
designing the posthuman future. But even if that vision were to be true
it would have to rely on the masses. And in reality most of the changes
in technology, economy and ways of living come from below rather than
from top-down leadership. Figuring out how to actually build affordable
matter compilers, use neurointerfaces and live with life extension is
something that will be done in a distributed manner. And it cannot
really be planned, it has to happen. The best we can do is to show the
way, make people interested, help to make it politically possible and
acceptable and formulate overarching visions that hopefully provide a
framework on which to build. But we should not be surprised or dismayed
that people build what *they* want, not what *we* want.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
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