Will we really have time to enjoy life in the future? Or will we be constantly struggling in an intense battle to keep up with the trajectory of future change.
Rushing to develop extropian tech makes alot of sense right now -- the sooner the better, from a survival viewpoint. But once we can upload and keep backups, etc.. what is the big rush?
Will we really have time to leisurely explore the deep oceans in our remote controlled robotic probes? Will I be able to spend a day sitting atop everest, or flying at mach 10 over the arctic circle? Will we have the chance to experience all sorts of the wonderful things such tech would bring us? Or will it be a constant race to stay competetive and keep up the the Jones's (and I don't mean just spike and doug)?
The fact of the matter is that if some people want to spend a little time relaxing and enjoying their new freedom, others will be out getting a head start dismantling the matter in the solar system to build j-brains. When it comes time for those that weren't in such a hurry, we'll need to leave the solar system, and be years behind the advancements made by those in a hurry. From a survival standpoint, it would be foolish not to try and keep up. At our current rate of advancement, I still find time to relax (although not nearly enough!). As we approach singularity, 'keeping up' with advancement will drown out all other passtimes.
I'm all for getting a brain the size of a planet or star, but I don't care to have that right away. I'd prefer to take my time: Remove the need to sleep, add some mental health security, increase intelligence incrementally, explore the domain of experience at each step, then move onto the next. When I have a brain the size of a planet, I have a hunch that skydiving and wind surfing won't be as much fun anymore :-( I'm sure other things will be just as fun, but hey I wanna have fun in all the ways there are to have fun.
Does anyone have a plan to both surf the wave of advancement/self-improvement and still *enjoy* some of the other things life has to offer?
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| Aaron Davidson <ajd@ualberta.ca> http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~davidson/ |
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