From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Tue Sep 09 2003 - 15:21:44 MDT
On Tue, Sep 09, 2003 at 04:18:37PM -0000, Randy S wrote:
> Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se> said:
>
> But Europeans share more of your genes, Anders. Going with the whole concept
> of nepotism as gene-survival strategy, why would you want to help African
> cultures, instead of helping your own European cousins?
>
> Or are you unconsciously striking an altruistic pose, hoping to better pass
> on your own genes by doing so?
I have no loyalty to my genes, only to my memes. I do not plan to
reproduce genetically but rather memetically. By spreading my memes I am
in a sense uploading myself into mankind (although I prefer to have one
or more continous central consciousness threads active too). If I can
get millions to hold similar beliefs and values as I hold, then I have
succeeded far better than I could ever hope for genetically.
While our genetic machinery might bias us in many ways, we are also able
to hijack the biases cognitively. We are only controlled if we allow
ourselves to be.
There is also the reciprocal benefit thing. I believe I will be better
off if a lot of people like me, are peaceful and prosperous and have
reasons to trade neat things and services with me. I also think I will
benefit by having a large pool of diversity accesible - new ideas, new
solutions, alternative strategies and plenty of surprises. Hence there
is no reason to strive for monoculture but rather diverse cultures with
certain biases. And I fully accept that the situation is symmetric with
other people: there is room for overlaying our memetic radiations.
Sure, I'm very egocentric. It is just that I try to enlarge my ego to
encompass all things.
(Tuesdays I'm in megalomaniac pantheist mode)
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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