tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post5680911204475247731..comments2024-03-28T02:14:56.184-07:00Comments on Giulio Prisco: YES! Hard-core transhumanist splinter groups yearning for cyber-heavenGiulio Priscohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811681020661409028noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-45641852742229531022010-06-21T11:10:06.387-07:002010-06-21T11:10:06.387-07:00@Giulio
*giggle* I have NEVER believed in the &qu...@Giulio<br /><br />*giggle* I have NEVER believed in the "fast takeoff Singularity" Giulio, primarily because I do not see "Singularities" as unique events.<br /><br />Humanity has had many singularities. The First was probably either stone chipping or fire. Then Agriculture, then cities, leadin up to the last few, the printing press, the industrial revolution, and the ongoingValkyrie Icehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08847675099789308340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-51252774696932823322010-06-21T00:04:32.710-07:002010-06-21T00:04:32.710-07:00@Particleion: see my most recent article on the po...@Particleion: see my most recent article on the possibility that our own reality may be a simulation:<br /><br /><a href="http://giulioprisco.blogspot.com/2010/03/in-whom-we-live-move-and-have-our-being.html" rel="nofollow">In Whom we live, move, and have our being</a><br /><br />It has been suggested that fundamental physics indicate that our reality may be a simulation. See this article on <a Giulio Priscohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13811681020661409028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-22154069665578307312010-06-20T23:50:40.610-07:002010-06-20T23:50:40.610-07:00@Valkyrie: the books which played this waking-up r...@Valkyrie: the books which played this waking-up role for me were Sir Arthur C. Clarke novels (2001, Childhood's End...), which I read when I was very young.<br /><br />As you say, progress is a parallel process with many parallel tracks which blend and amplify each other at some point. Someday, progress will permit achieving even the most radical transhumanist visions (indefinite lifespan Giulio Priscohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13811681020661409028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-15752678124737300022010-06-20T22:44:50.598-07:002010-06-20T22:44:50.598-07:00While I don't give into arguing the feasibilit...While I don't give into arguing the feasibility of uploading, Im far more interested in knowing if there's a possibility we have already been uploaded...<br /><br />If This universe is already a simulation then should we not worry more about reaching out of the simulation vs going deeper into it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-66515031571289508292010-06-20T12:42:50.909-07:002010-06-20T12:42:50.909-07:00TY Giulio. I had originally submitted that to H+ ...TY Giulio. I had originally submitted that to H+ but sadly only a few days later R.U. put the magazine on hiatus.<br /><br />I can still remember the day I found that answer for myself. I had recently enrolled in an electronics repair class, and my teachers "pep talk" was "Everything I am going to teach you is useless. No-one does board level repairs anymore, and computers can Valkyrie Icehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08847675099789308340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-33382110127640969602010-06-20T01:35:53.613-07:002010-06-20T01:35:53.613-07:00Wow Valkyrie, this is a great piece. Just left thi...Wow Valkyrie, this is a great piece. Just left this comment on your blog:<br /><br />Hi Valkyrie, this is a great article.<br /><br />(Bio)luddites talk a lot of "human nature" and "human dignity", never defining them, and they criticize transhumanism for being against "human nature" and "human dignity".<br /><br />But to me, the essence of human nature andGiulio Priscohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13811681020661409028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-91594907073387413802010-06-20T00:22:34.111-07:002010-06-20T00:22:34.111-07:00http://valkyrieice.blogspot.com/2010/05/fundamenta...http://valkyrieice.blogspot.com/2010/05/fundamental-question.html<br /><br />A piece I wrote a couple of weeks ago that more or less could be considered my manifesto.Valkyrie Icehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08847675099789308340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-4947842303521213122010-06-19T10:56:45.675-07:002010-06-19T10:56:45.675-07:00Hi Michael. The transhumanism of the 90s is defini...Hi Michael. The transhumanism of the 90s is definitely still alive today - you and I are living proofs.<br /><br />Since the 90s, transhumanism has evolved. The transhumanist community is now more complex and diversified, which is good. It is also more open to cultural and social considerations that were often ignored in the 90s, and this is also good.<br /><br />But we transhumanists are still Giulio Priscohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13811681020661409028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-54256698963053905662010-06-19T09:07:52.697-07:002010-06-19T09:07:52.697-07:00I'm in total agreement with you, Giulio! Tran...I'm in total agreement with you, Giulio! Transhumanism should be fun. The transhumanism of the 90s is still alive today. It never ended.Michael Anissimovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06217926458888484768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-69002321405406816682010-06-17T06:58:05.759-07:002010-06-17T06:58:05.759-07:00@Kur0: the sanitisation of transhumanism for the ...@Kur0: <i> the sanitisation of transhumanism for the mass market has gone far too far.</i><br /><br />I don't think the ongoing attempts at sanitisation are meant for the mass market, but for a relatively small but very vocal group of PC pseudo-intellectuals, mainly in academic ivory towers.<br /><br />I am persuaded that the "mass" is much smarter than these "intellectuals&Giulio Priscohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13811681020661409028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-81066985522684462612010-06-17T02:34:10.562-07:002010-06-17T02:34:10.562-07:00@Extie: the brain is a computer in a general sense...@Extie: the brain is a computer in a general sense. It is a device which obeys the laws of physics, performs computations based on its previous state and current input, and uses the results of such computations to act upon its environment and update its state. This, which I consider self-evident, is not related to any specific computational technology and implementation on any specific substrate.Giulio Priscohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13811681020661409028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-40076994873233093572010-06-16T20:23:28.448-07:002010-06-16T20:23:28.448-07:00As usual, awesome, Giulio. I've been a hardcor...As usual, awesome, Giulio. I've been a hardcore transhumanist for as long as I remember, a friggin' floating-point frothing freak, caring more about computation than copulation.<br /><br />It's a CHOICE. And the choice was right: today I, a transitional-human, create seminal ultratech while the merely-humans can see no further than their next paycheck.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-13063663182742424082010-06-16T17:00:50.413-07:002010-06-16T17:00:50.413-07:00Maybe even one with women in it, huh? Sounds splen...Maybe even one with women in it, huh? Sounds splendid. Radical feminist Shulamith Firestone strikes me as an ideal icon. Way back in 1970 she advocated employing technology to liberating ends such as artificial wombs and full automation through machines as smart as people. Though not yet considered a transhumanist writer in any circle I'm aware of, she fits right in with her discussion of theAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-22606929005865978302010-06-16T15:22:21.186-07:002010-06-16T15:22:21.186-07:00(the following is inspired by this very blog entry...(the following is inspired by this very blog entry of Giulio's).<br /><br />The computational theory of mind is based on the premise that the brain is a kind of computer. It might not be directly comparable to the laptop I am using right now, but it is an organ that performs information processing.<br /><br />But, what if this is wrong, and the brain is just not a computer at all? Sometimes Extropia DaSilvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13835594840650345569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-7746715584565783452010-06-16T12:36:26.588-07:002010-06-16T12:36:26.588-07:00I'm sure you've read enough of my writing ...I'm sure you've read enough of my writing to know I'm a die hard techno geek, and I don't in the slightest buy into the "slow, gentle, PC singularity." That's little more to me than sticking one's head into the sand and trying to ignore the reality shaping itself around us.<br /><br />Technology doesn't exist in a vacuum, and magic doesn't happen if all Valkyrie Icehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08847675099789308340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-12482406064829057752010-06-16T09:00:01.667-07:002010-06-16T09:00:01.667-07:00I agree entirely, OP. If a "hardcore transhum...I agree entirely, OP. If a "hardcore transhumanist" splinter group was ever properly formed, I'd be right in there. I'm not anti-mainstream, per se, and I agree with the previous commenter that the mainstream circles have, in views, quite a lot in common with smaller groups. However, the sanitisation of transhumanism for the mass market has gone far too far. <br /><br />While I Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-25510670580747949662010-06-16T06:29:57.330-07:002010-06-16T06:29:57.330-07:00@livingtomorrow: I have nothing against mainstream...@livingtomorrow: I have nothing against mainstreaming, on the contrary I look forward to seeing our ideas discussed and considered by the mainstream. But they must be _our ideas_, not a watered-down version.<br /><br />I also agree that there is no contradiction between mainstreaming and uploading vision. We can discuss proximate here-and-now themes in mainstream circles, and visionary Giulio Priscohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13811681020661409028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-39542669478301667382010-06-16T06:14:13.808-07:002010-06-16T06:14:13.808-07:00Old school idealism isn't what you need. Ther ...Old school idealism isn't what you need. Ther is no contradiction between mainstreaming and uploading vision. PLF and HAMAS are pretty mainstream. Without public policy forays you cannot move forward. Splinter cells are not an answer, there are no resources to create them.<br /><br />DanilaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-21055755004843161752010-06-16T06:07:37.060-07:002010-06-16T06:07:37.060-07:00Good analogy Extie. I am sure some of our ancestor...Good analogy Extie. I am sure some of our ancestors would have said something like "This is impossible: amplifying voice to make it heard thousands of miles away would result in a noise so loud that it would deafen, or kill, all those standing nearby" -- which is certainly true, but irrelevant: engineers have found ways to transmit voices over thousands of miles which does not involve Giulio Priscohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13811681020661409028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-67748600257970006732010-06-16T03:57:40.402-07:002010-06-16T03:57:40.402-07:00I sometimes wonder what our ancestors would have t...I sometimes wonder what our ancestors would have thought if they were told there would one day be devices that transmit the voices of the dead. I expect quite a few would dismiss the idea as absurd. Of those that accepted it could be done, I expect quite a few would be disturbed by the prospect.<br /><br />Well, now we all have radios and music systems that allow us to listen to Micheal Jackson, Extropia DaSilvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13835594840650345569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-88246470709385986792010-06-16T03:26:12.063-07:002010-06-16T03:26:12.063-07:00Hi Stathis,
I am not too concerned with philosoph...Hi Stathis,<br /><br />I am not too concerned with philosophies of personal identity in this context. As you say, these issues have been explored for decades and centuries. I prefer to see things more practically:<br /><br />Before going to sleep, I could think that I will cease to exist and another person, who remembers most of my memories, will wake up in my bed tomorrow morning.<br /><br />Giulio Priscohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13811681020661409028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076432836709775084.post-38808180007800198532010-06-16T03:16:09.678-07:002010-06-16T03:16:09.678-07:00I'm amazed that people purport to speak with a...I'm amazed that people purport to speak with authority on the subject while being apparently ignorant of issues explored in the philosophy of personal identity decades, if not centuries ago.Stathishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02641726316344926101noreply@blogger.com