Re: The Tower of Babel (was: Extropic Art (was: Poll))

Eliezer Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Thu, 16 Jan 1997 23:21:12 -0600

> > I know what's missing. Hubris. In nanotechnology and cryonics and
> > intelligence enhancement, and especially the Singularity, there is a
> > sense of power and might and challenging the foundations of the
> > Universe... challenging the gods, not just in the Greek tradition, but
> > that of the Tower of Babel.

[Lyle:]
> But consider: if you knew how to do it, would you post the answer
> to the list? I certainly wouldn't. I'm not telling you everything I know,
> either; far from it.

Actually, the response to any serious religionists who compare
Extropianism to the Tower of Babel is that with the Internet, God has
undone (or permitted the undoing) of the damage done at Babel. It is
thus only logical to assume that hubris is now permitted...

-- 
         sentience@pobox.com      Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
          http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/singularity.html
           http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
Disclaimer:  Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.