tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078757.post7882042546125616333..comments2023-11-02T08:39:17.310-07:00Comments on Sentiments of Rationality: An Open Letter to Transhumanists and Other Tolerant Enlightenment SeekersDom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04446684066512811439noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078757.post-71954824518189031822009-04-11T17:41:00.000-07:002009-04-11T17:41:00.000-07:00SBH,I haven't forgotten about your concerns, but I...SBH,<BR/><BR/>I haven't forgotten about your concerns, but I'm very busy right now, so I can't answer them for at least a few days, possibly a few weeks. I need to finish my dissertation prospectus before the end of April.<BR/><BR/>***<BR/><BR/>Maggie,<BR/><BR/>I am glad you are reading my blog. I am busy now, like you are, but I am sure we will find time to hang out soon.<BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/>-DomDom Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04446684066512811439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078757.post-57455498452904793782009-04-05T15:37:00.000-07:002009-04-05T15:37:00.000-07:00Who's SBH? We should write an open letter, to star...Who's SBH? We should write an open letter, to start a support group for Dom's friends who will be sad when he leaves us for his experience machine. And who wish that he would just accept us for our most righteous natural potentialities.<BR/><BR/>And pardon the silliness Dom, but I believe I've conversed with you in good faith enough to deserve a friendly but not entirely supportive comment. ;)Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199054776589187532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078757.post-8649279790574143462009-04-05T14:47:00.000-07:002009-04-05T14:47:00.000-07:00SBH,Thanks for taking a more charitable approach. ...SBH,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for taking a more charitable approach. I responded to you because you're a friend, but if some random troll had written something like you did, I might have just ignored it entirely. Of course, I reacted a bit more angrily than I probably should have, so I apologize for that.<BR/><BR/>I'm busy at the moment, but I'll take a second look at your list of objections and try to deal with the most reasonable ones. When I have a response, I will post it.<BR/><BR/>If you're willing to argue with me in good faith, then I'm happy to include anyone in the conversation, even if they're openly antagonistic.Dom Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04446684066512811439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078757.post-46293319901965507862009-04-05T10:42:00.000-07:002009-04-05T10:42:00.000-07:00I confess to having a bit of fun at your expense. ...I confess to having a bit of fun at your expense. I do suspect that the nonsense trickles up, however, from the semantic issue to the conceptual level. <BR/><BR/>You said you wanted a conversation. Now you don't? Are you just preaching to the choir? <BR/><BR/>While I suspect you could, were you more careful, address the semantic objections, and those are likely not to be of interest to your audience anyway. <BR/><BR/>Nevertheless, I take 10, 8, and 7 to be concerns that even a charitable reader might have. So you might consider addressing those and humoring me. Who knows, may be I'll even drink the kool aid.SBHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078757.post-6268366088329100982009-04-05T10:11:00.000-07:002009-04-05T10:11:00.000-07:00SBH, since I'm not stupid, I recognize you as one ...SBH, since I'm not stupid, I recognize you as one of my friends--I hope the rest of you will excuse the familiarity with which I respond to his statements. <BR/><BR/>Since you clearly took pains to read this letter in the least charitable way possible, I'm not sure that your concerns are worthy of being answered. Since I doubt I could satisfy you even if I did answer them, I see no point in bothering.<BR/><BR/>Interpret this is as a victory if you like. But you're not in my target audience. So to answer your first question, at least, "us" clearly does not include you.<BR/><BR/>I wish you luck in whatever life projects you undertake, but I know you well enough to know that it would take a far greater effort to convince you than is worthwhile. I apologize if this response dissatisfies you.Dom Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04446684066512811439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078757.post-32856045169480955642009-04-05T08:38:00.000-07:002009-04-05T08:38:00.000-07:00"By transhumanism, I mean specifically the idea th..."By transhumanism, I mean specifically the idea that it is morally acceptable, perhaps even morally obligatory, for us to improve upon or "transcend" the current human form/condition through whatever means we individually choose."<BR/><BR/>A couple of comments:<BR/><BR/>1. It is unclear what the referent of 'us' is here. If it refers to transhumanists, then your definition is circular. <BR/><BR/>2. If 'us' and 'we' have different referents, where 'us' refers to humans(?) and 'we' refers to transhumanists, then the account is still circular *and* puts the transhumanists in the position of controlling the means by which the population at large is to be "improved upon." Worse yet, the transhumanists apparently decide this individually, so, by this account, it is morally permissible (forget morally obligatory) for each of them to act so as to bring about a condition he deems as an improvement. I reject this outright since it would countenance a transhumanist's stomping puppy heads if that is what the transhumanist decided was the appropriate means for improving the human condition. <BR/><BR/>3. If 'us' and 'we' are meant to refer to the same thing, say humans, we have the same problem. Why ought an individual be able to carry out an act that has consequences for "the human condition"? Might not there be conflicts between what transhumanist A and transhumanist B believe to be most beneficial for the human condition? It is not inconceivable that neither action is particularly beneficial, and that were they both to act, everyone would be worse off.<BR/><BR/>4. Of course, if this account is non-reductive, you may help yourself to the term 'transhumanist' but this renders your account unilluminating, and still there is the ambiguity problem with us/we. <BR/><BR/>5. The subsequent paragraph does not give a logically equivalent account of what a transhumanist is, despite the 'In other words.'<BR/><BR/>6. I've only attend to one horn of the disjunction 'improve upon or 'transcend'', but the other horn does not seem entirely unproblematic either. You still have the ambiguity/scope problem, but you have the further problem of cashing out what transcendence is. <BR/><BR/>Other comments:<BR/><BR/>7. How is labor going to be distributed in your drug commune out in California? What if the individual choices of 5 transhumanists to spend the day in a K-hole negatively impact the welfare of 2 other transhumanists who are simply spending the weekend quietly tripping in their respective living rooms? This might be the case if the fans of Special K work for the transhumanist drug commune utility company and the electricity goes out or the nuclear power facility begins to melt down. So long as they believed that they were improving the human condition by taking special K instead of paying attention to the temperature of reactor 2, it is morally permissible (or obligatory) for them to neglect their civic duties in favor of spending the day in a K-hole<BR/><BR/>8. Does it not occur to you that running a government "scientifically" may conflict with running it democratically? Will evolution be in your science texts? Will pi be fixed at some arbitrary approximation (see Indiana House Bill No. 246, 1897)? Will this be decided by a vote? What if creationist transhumanists win the vote and in addition to including creationism in transhumanist biology texts, they in accordance with I Kings 7:23, set pi=3? Why have a vote at all if science is allowed to dictate? But if science is allowed to dictate, how is this democratic? <BR/><BR/>9. "But we should ensure a minimal standard of living for each person."<BR/><BR/>This does not sound very fun. First of all, what if the citizens vote not to do so? Then you have to respect the will of the masses and not make such an assurance; hence, you have the population acting immorally. (I read 'should' in the normal normative sense.)<BR/><BR/>Also, why *should* "we" do this? Do you have an argument for this claim?<BR/><BR/>How do I even read the quote? Again more ambiguity. For example, do you mean to say that for each individual, it will be the case that his standard of living is guaranteed to be minimal? No one wants to have it mandated that his standard of living is minimal. Some of us may enjoy a non-minimal standard of living, complete with nintendo wii's and late-night Showtime movies.<BR/><BR/>10. Why is this position not susceptible to the standard objections to (social) libertarianism?sbhnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078757.post-6086658211448197832009-04-05T04:24:00.000-07:002009-04-05T04:24:00.000-07:00Thank you for the tip. I will look into it. This...Thank you for the tip. I will look into it. This is one thing I love about the internet, if you write something down, sometimes an answer will just come to you. :-)<BR/><BR/>I will definitely investigate this project! I'm glad I don't have to start it myself.Dom Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04446684066512811439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078757.post-85912658952996590782009-04-04T23:54:00.000-07:002009-04-04T23:54:00.000-07:00This is almost exactly the paradigm behind the Fre...This is almost exactly the paradigm behind the Free State Project. I suggest you look into it. I'm sure they'd welcome you and your views...Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00098726160439943045noreply@blogger.com