Re: U-Prime (and the Universe as 'God')

Dejan Vucinic (dejan@mit.edu)
Tue, 19 Nov 1996 13:26:36 -0600


Reilly Jones wrote:
> Understand and employ those laws to what end?
> Rule the universe to what end?

Why, food and shelter, of course! All evidence suggests (to my
overly rational self, at least) that all human goals are just
subgoals of our self-preserving and reproductive urges. Even
the more cerebral ones like scientific inquiry fall under this
category---knowledge is power.

I keep wondering what will the cravings of transhuman organisms
be, for they define their goals and ultimately their relationship
with the universe they live in. Perhaps that's where the Great
Filter kicks in: we transcend, figure out there really are no
obstacles to our indefinite survival, and self-destruct from lack
of goals. [That's reminiscent of the behavior of "world peace"
freaks, don't you think?]

Oh, by the way, Ira:
> I am not ready to rule out the possibility that, by doing so, we will
> one day rule the universe.

We *are* the Universe (an emergent phenomenon in it, that is). By
"rule the universe" you probably meant "have conscious control over
transport of energy in all of known space." I think that's a safe
bet: we'll probably discard the wrath of higher forms of life as
"natural disasters" or some such.

Regards,

--dv