Attraction of transhumanism

 Here's an interesting blog post I came across titled "Why I want to be transhuman."

Nevermind the content of the post itself (it's an interesting read, but it's not the point of my post). I want to point out the Marvin Minsky's quote lifeted from his book the Emotion Machine. Here's the quote posted in the blog article I linked above.



"I was once giving some lectures on longevity and immortality. I noticed that people didn't like the idea much, so I actually took a poll of a couple of audiences. I asked how many of you would like to live for 200 years. Almost no one raised their hand. They said because you'd be so crippled and arthritic and amnesiac that it would be no fun. So I changed the question. How would you like to live 200 or 500 years in the same physical condition that you were at half your age. Guess what, almost nobody raised their hand. But when I tried the same question with a technical audience, scientific people, they all raised their hand. So I did ask both groups. The ordinary people, if you'll pardon the stereotype, generally said that they thought human lifetime was just fine. They'd done most of the things they wanted to do. Maybe they wanted to visit the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan, but they could live without that. And surely another 100 years would be terribly boring."


The lesson is simple. Regardless of the validity or moral conviction regarding transhumanism and life extension, people who lead mostly 'normal' conventional lives thinks longer lifespan is not really necessary. People who've chosen intellectual pursuit as the primary way of life, however, tend to support artificial longevity more readily. I am not saying that those of academic pursuits somehow value life more than the 'vulgar' normal people who just happen to live out their lives. Douglas Hoffstadter, one of the most learned man of our time (and someone I greatly admire) once criticized the transhumanism movement and many of its leaders to be way too obsessed with death (something I agree with, despite my support for transhumanism movement in general. I mean, Kurzweil avoid trips to reduce his chance of death. That's just sick, considering the scope of things he's supposedly trying to accomplish). 

I just want to point out certain mindset that I find disturbing. People who feel no pressing need of longer lifespan may be the silent majority of the society we live in. This brings in my mind pictures of luddites who protest against advancements of medical technologies because they feel 'simpler' life is better, while third-world people die in droves because of lack of our ability to manufacture more effective medicines more cheaply. Or how about the college kids I knew a few years ago? Who regarded higher learning and pursuit of grand life-time goals with frank cynicism and suggested a 'simpler' life with a day job working at the groceries or community farms, living out their lives with those they love? I always wanted to point out that their parents were paying for their college tuition while they purchased expensive coffee from a single mother working three jobs to support her child.  

I think the culture of overtechnology is dangerous. Thinking of technical advances as some sort of panacea that will solve all of humanity's problems is a twisted and shortsighted thinking that later generations might have to pay a hefty price for. Just as dangerous, however, is the culture of pseudo-philosophy and half-baked soul searching that takes on the superficial trappings of transcendent wisdom while lacking substances of foresight, action, and compassion towards all of humanity...