> So, no, altruism need not be the primary goal of an Extropian way of
> thinking but it certainly should be pressing on the minds of those
> that are claiming a post human destiny and it should show up in their
> lifestyle.
I think many extropians would agree with me that an altruistic way of
behaving can be based on ultimately selfish (i.e. seeking to maximize
personal utility) motivations (c.f. the results of the Iterated
Prisoner's Dilemma), at least under some circumstances.
> You don't evolve just one part of your existence, you
> evolve the whole thing: mind, body and spirit.
It is interesting to speculate that believing in altruism is an
evolved trait (most likely memetic rather than genetic) to simplify
our thinking about how to act. I wonder what kind of simplifications
we can evolve above/based on it?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
nv91-asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html
GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y