In a message dated Fri, 10 Nov 2000 12:55:22 PM Eastern Standard Time, Skye
<skyezacharia@yahoo.com> writes:
<< I always thought that the age of immortality would be
an age of greater morality on a person's part- whether
or not religion existed. I think that the value of an
individual life goes way up when it's potential is
suddenly rendered near-limitless. Morality as in
respect for one another, I suppose, would be the best
definition of what I'm referring to, not in any
religious sense. I'm nonreligious myself but do
consider myself to be a "moral" person as defined by
Webster's revised unabridged dictionary, '96 (def 2)-
"Teaching or exhibiting goodness or badness of
character and behavior". <<
This is demonstrated in nature, too- creatures with
short lifespans tend to reproduce faster, die out more
easily, and exhibit less care for each other (though
this may be because fast reproduction is a fairly
succesfull, simple strategy, which has bootstrapped
early species into the modern era without the need of
life sustaining specializations), but in general
something resembling this tends to be the case.
Animals which live longer tend to be more social in
many ways, or at least care for each other more-
elephants come back and visit the graves of their dead
at times, and are known to be able to recognize which
ones are theirs, though I've not heard this massively
well-backed up.<<
Well put. I also think morality/ethics tend to grow as per capita prosperity
grows. David Brin (among others) has pointed out in several essays that our
perception of "we" (as in "us vs them") has been increasing greatly in recent
years -- as the struggle for survival becomes less grim, we tend to become
more inclusive, admitting not only human beings but even animals and (one
would hope) artificial life as well. I always found the idea that humans
would become jaded and struck by ennui if they lived too long to be utterly
ridiculous. I think that we would become far wiser and more generous once
survival is not longer a central concern.
CJC
>> Ants tend to reproduce like crazy and
die off just as fast- warring, cannibalizing, throwing
out the ones of their own that smell like the dead-
these are all examples of primitive wiring, to be
sure, but wiring that would be modified if there were
not so many individual units to go around.
You all assumedly know this, I was just trying to be
clear in what I was talking about.
--- Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se> wrote:
> Robin Hanson <rhanson@gmu.edu> writes:
>
> > >Full text:
> >
>
>http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4086596,00.html
>
> It is interesting to analyse the assumptions in his
> forecasts - but
> while we transhumanists may snicker at some of them,
> I think we better
> ought to ask ourselves if our own assumptions are
> better founded.
>
> --
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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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