>From alt.history.future.
--------------4EE3EF266FE797EA5C071F38
Content-Type: message/rfc822
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline
From: wkhunter@arn.net (Max Hunter)
Newsgroups: alt.history.future
Subject: Engineered Evolution
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 18:11:49 GMT
Message-ID: <34d217cf.1795908@news.arn.net>
X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.1/32.230
NNTP-Posting-Host: pm3-8-018.ama.arn.net
Path: ix.netcom.com!psinntp!news-peer-east.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!Sprint!uunet!in2.uu.net!news.usenetnews.org!pm3-8-018.ama.arn.net
Xref: ix.netcom.com alt.history.future:3533
1) THE DEFENSE OF THE SPECIES
1a) Our species, HomoSapiens, arose from the stuff of beasts. Perhaps
as little as a few
hundred thousand years ago. Before that time the earth was
populated with two or
maybe more species that had the potential to become what we are
today. Those other
proto-human species did not survive the fire of evolution.
Perhaps we killed them,
perhaps they succumbed due to an unknown deficit or lack of
resilience. Nonetheless,
they are gone. We will not go. We are now endowed with tools
that will overcome the
fire and enable us to change. To change our environment and to
change ourselves.
1b) We have the power to direct the next step in our evolution. If
we do not take initiative
and mold our future, nature will do it for us. We are a loose
cannon on the evolutionary
timetable, we have effectively stifled the mechanisms for change
due to our social
behavior. Therefore if left to it's own devices, Nature will
destroy mankind. It will
cleanse the earth of our menace and replace us with a less
intelligent more predictable
docile creature.
1c) The path to intelligence that our species has taken is a road
seldom traveled, it is only
available to a species under the direst circumstances. When
those circumstances of the
environment are such that it requires less effort to make a
species intelligent that it does
to make them something else. An extremely rare serendipity
1d) Now that we have this weapon, intelligence, we must use it in our
defense. Against the
forces of evolution that would destroy us. We must weald the
sword of intelligence in
defiance of the Luddite mentality that will inevitably arise in
societies, religions and
governments as resistance to the new man. We must use this tool
to form a new
species. We must mold our evolution to produce an altered man.
One who improves
the best of the best of our attributes both physical and social.
One that in turn will
continue the process of species improvement on it's own.
2) OUR BODIES
2a) HomoSapiens are ill equipped physically to maintain existence for
very long. We have
within our structure subsystems that are fragile, any of which
have the potential to cause
our death.
2a1) Our respiratory system does double duty. It is used to oxygenate
our blood and enable
our verbal communication. We have no backup system in the event
of failure. Nature
has given us nothing to fall back on as a crutch to keep us going
in the event of a minor
malfunction. Respiratory distress is a major cause of death. It
only take a few moments
visiting hospital wards to realize that a solution must be found.
Millions of people both
infant and aged suffer and strangle in their sickbeds gasping for
a tiny breath. One tiny
wheeze of oxygen to fill their lungs, when a better engineering
job could heal them, and
send them on their way.
2a2) By combining these two uses, nature has given us a tripwire to
our own destruction.
The path to our lungs is intersected with the path to our
digestive systems. A deadly
combination. Intelligence will enable us to devise a
technological solution.
Mechanisms can be invented and installed that will provide
oxygenation on a continuous
basis, thereby freeing us from this dangerous intersection.
Others can be installed that
will control airflow over our vocal cords enabling us to speak.
An improved man thus
altered will then become a master of many environments. He can
live and work in the
depths of the sea, and in the emptiness of space. The limitation
to our expansion into
these realms will then become a matter of pressure compensation,
a problem we are
already able to technologically solve to a great extent.
2a3) Our Renal system is also very fragile. We already have in use
huge devices that
inadequately filter toxins and excess fluids from our blood. The
technologies must be
improved to the point where one structure may be unintrusively
installed in our bodies
with adequate backup making our Livers and Kidneys obsolete.
Such an improved man
will no longer suffer and die from the myriad of minor events
that currently kill millions
of people worldwide.
2a4) We need more than one heart. Perhaps as many as four that each
have the ability to
maintain blood flow throughout our circulatory systems. One for
each lung and one for
each Femoral Artery in our legs. Heart attacks will disappear,
or become a minor
nuisance easily resolved. Minor blockages will no longer be life
threatening. Our
bodies already have mechanisms to reroute blood vessels in the
event of blockage. The
altered man will now have time to let those new pathways grow on
their own without
the threat of death in the interim.
2a5) With the invention of a workable nerve/mechanism interface we
will be free from the
limitations of structure in our bodies as a whole. A thus
altered human will be essentially a
brain and spinal cord with life support structure. Able to be
plugged directly into
anything from a earthmoving machine to a spaceship. Man at this
point will be free to
roam any environment, and he will become the master of all.
2a6) We carry with us evolutionary baggage. Attributes both physical
and social that
originated in that Odd Little Primate. Evolution is a violent
and bloody process, full of
stress and horror and gnashing of teeth. Our bodies are built
for fight or flight and not
suited to calm easy times. Likewise our behavioral attributes
are built for conflict. We
Hate and Fear and Lust and are full of Self Pity because it comes
naturally to us. They
are the four basic instincts. They are also attributes we should
leave behind on our way
to the next evolutionary plateau.
2a7) Recognize them for what they are. Keep watch on your emotions.
2a8) You will not succeed in mastering them, because they are
ingrained in the structure of
your body. Some control however is better than none. In the
millions of years to come
the creature that will evolve from us, may at long last be free
of them. There
unfortunately is no guarantee that our species will survive to
change. We may be
another of life's dead ends. On the way we may also be destined
for devolution, a return
to the wild, ignorant, savage, and Odd Little Primate. Not the
first species to cause its
own extinction.
2a9) The decedents of that Odd Little Primate developed language.
This miracle caused a
giant leap forward in our evolution. A brain without language is
a confused stewpot of
emotions, images, and instincts. Without any structure
consistent from one individual to
another. It was as if the brain was a clean unformatted hard
drive. It had lots of storage
space, but no consistent way to retrieve data, and no method of
recording anything
complex. Language is the disk operating system of the brain. It
allows for consistent
retrieval of data by structuring the way each bit of information
is stored. It allows more
than one individual to share complex information. It allows them
to learn from each
other.
3) OURSELVES
3a) Faith is a commendable asset, only when it is based on truth. It
is described as the proof
of things unseen, the "I know that I know that I know." Bad
faith is one based on a
falsehood. It is a set of beliefs that result in injury or
limitation to the advancement of
the species. Good faith is any set of beliefs that reinforce the
species in it's quest for
truth.
3a1) I have faith that my children will be good people, yet I know
that bad people come from
good loving parents sometimes, yet I believe. I have seen my
children mature from
infants to young men and women. I have seen their tears, and
their concern for people
other than themselves. So I have faith and am comforted by it.
3a2) I have faith that science will search for the truth in all
matters, yet I know that
falsehoods sometimes become politically or financially expedient,
yet I believe. I know
that falsehoods eventually fall under the yoke of independent
verification. Vindication
will come to the truth. Sometimes later than it should, but it
always comes. So I have
faith and am comforted by it.
3b) Humans have an almost infinite capacity for self delusion. I
know this to be true. I
therefore have no faith in other peoples miracles, I only have
faith in my own. Life itself
is a miracle, in which I believe. Language is a miracle. DNA is
a miracle. Intelligence is
a miracle. The structure of matter and the laws by which the
universe is constructed are
miracles. The fact that mankind arose from such humble fibre as
an Odd Little Primate,
is the biggest miracle of all.
3c) How can good be defined as anything more or less than this. Good
is anything that has
the effect of insuring the survival or prosperity of the species
in part or as a whole. Bad
is anything that has the opposite effect. A cultural or
religious definition of good and
bad has no meaning at all. Cultures rise and fall, religions
continually redefine
themselves with every generation. There is a truth, that can
easily be found. It is self
evident. Every honest human instinctively knows it. It is not
dictated by religious or
cultural bias, although it might be reinforced by them. These
are the seven basic truths.
3c1) Death is Bad. All humans while alive have the potential for good.
The premature ending
of another's life has the effect of destroying that potential, of
preventing it from ever
maturing into reality. It ends all comfort they might have given
to those around them. It
stops the growth to intellectual or social enlightenment. It is
the finish to discovery for
the individual. By ending another's life we cancel any benefit
the species might have
enjoyed by the existence of this member. Conversely anything we
do that has the
potential for increasing our lifespan or the lifespan of the
species is good.
3c2) Abuse of another except in self-defense is bad. No human being
should ever harm
another, by violence, by emotional distress, or by verbal attack.
To do so causes an
injury to the species as a whole. Any victim of this abuse is
rendered less productive,
and more introspective by the experience. When we are occupied
with "licking our
wounds" we can not benefit the species. Everyone has the
obligation to protect
themselves and fellow members of their human family from any such
intrusion, perceived
or real. Defense against abuse is good. Reinforcement of
another is good.
3c3) Species Classification is bad. We are all members of one human
family, the species
Homo Sapiens. We are all decedents of the same Odd Little
Primate that emerged from
the African continent in the distant past. We share the same
genetic code with all
ethnicities, nationalities, and religious groups. Separate is
not equal. Any action or
belief that has the result of creating an "Us and Them" mentality
between humans only
strangles one group or the other from realizing it's own
potential. Tolerance of those
you perceive to be different than yourself is good.
3c4) Ignorance is Bad. Growth of the species can only happen if the
current generation is
able to stand on the shoulders of the preceding one. We can
learn from our ancestors
mistakes. Only by learning can we progress. We must learn in
order to survive. We
must also teach. We must teach the young everything we have
learned from our
progenitors plus everything we have gleaned from our life so that
we might form a
foundation for them to stand upon in their quest for more
knowledge. This is critical for
the survival of the species. No ethnicity, nationality or
religious group can be excluded
from this obligation. Potential for advancement in every field
is evenly distributed
among all races, and nationalities. This potential can not be
realized if every generation
consumes it's life relearning lessons that were common knowledge
to previous
generations. My children are obligated to be more intelligent
than I. Just as I am
obligated to be more intelligent than my ancestors. Learning is
good.
3c5) Lying is bad. All humans must be endowed with a thirst for truth.
Deception is evil
whether it is directed to the individual or to the whole. It
robs potential by bringing into
existence a spiraling vortex of error that wastes time causing
deception to compound
deception until the very concept of truth is weakened. It
rattles it's ugly chains thru the
species as a whole. There is no little white lie, there are only
big monstrous ones.
Goodness and truth are the same thing.
3c6) Self destructive habits are bad. Your life must be spent for the
advancement of the
species, or you are just excess baggage. Any activity you engage
in that cuts short the
length of your life limits your potential for good. It prevents
your efforts from ever
coming to a successful conclusion. The only successful human is
the one that advanced
the species during or because of his or her life. Failure is the
wasting away of potential.
Realization of potential is good.
3c7) Theft is bad. It doesn't matter whether the stolen thing is an
idea, an object, or the
affection of another, it is evil and has the effect of causing
strife within the species and
will result in any or all of the other bad things. It can be the
cause for Murder. It is a
form of abuse to another member of your species. It can be the
cause of hate for those
you perceive as different from yourself. It is ignorant, a lie
and a self destructive habit.
3d) Ignorance is the birthplace of all evil, and will if unchecked be
the ultimate cause of the
extinction of the Species of Man..
--------------4EE3EF266FE797EA5C071F38--