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Transhumanism F.A.Q. : Is Aging A Moral Good?
Transhumanism’s niche (some would say “cult”) status causes those of us who support it to answer a lot of the same questions over and over. Those questions were asked in droves on Marginal Revolution in response to my three-landmarks of transhumanism effort. I’m going to do my best to answer them here. Cowen himself actually asked one I hadn’t heard before, so I’m going to let that one ruminate the longest. Let’s start with the classic: aging.
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COMMENTS
Posted by Kenny on 07/02 at 08:33 PM
I'm pro-transhumanism and pro-super-longevity, but you can't act like it wouldn't pose some serious problems for the human psyche. I mean, we are evolutionarily programmed to feel certain ways at certain ages, like wanting children at a certain age. We have a psychological need to have children, and that's why they're valuable. This is just one of a whole host of psychological problems that will arise if people start living a lot longer, because our minds were programmed to run an entirely different course.
Posted by Vx on 07/03 at 03:34 AM
Psychological readiness for an ageless future is called "amortality" and yes, there are quite a lot of amortals. This is just post-industrial way of life. In fact, many people begin to have children in their 30s because they know it would be not so easy in 40s, and/or they are afraid to die while their children are too young. When age is irrelevant, there will be no reason to hurry. And then i think we may allow ourselves to have some... somewhen in our 100s when colonizing space. Those chldren in their turn may decide 100 is too young, and wait for 200 etc. Actually, even exponential population growth can be sustainable in linear space if time between "cosmic" generations is also increasing exponentially (25-50-100-200-400...). But this will hardly be a case. Anyone wishing to have kids will find the way without catastrophes, but most of us will behave like some Japanese.
Posted by Devon Fowler on 07/05 at 10:44 PM
Hello Kyle! I was posting in a blog entry about why the aging problem should be worked on and I got one response so far. His response was surprisingly none of the above.
He actually said that it makes sense that some or most people would like to live longer, but that he himself didn't wish to live longer than his allotted years now. I replied saying well you may not even live that long due to diseases like cancer and diabetes. (Didn't try to scare him though)
But he thought the human life span was impressive, as he compared it to most other animals. When people give me this response I figure either 1) they don't want to believe that they are not living in the best of all possible worlds or "Candide" scenario, or 2) they are simply young, as he was, and don't know the feeling of wanting to do so much more and simply not having enough time. And 3) I think he underestimates that growing old isn't always so graceful! I tried to tell him of the immense suffering that aging can cause especially in the truly declining years, and he hasn't yet responded.
Posted by Aaron on 07/08 at 03:05 AM
I've never heard a better argument in favor of action!
"Either we do this... OR WE ALL DIE!!!!"
"EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIE IF WE DON'T DO THIS!!!"
lol?
Posted by Anonymous on 07/11 at 08:13 PM
If we find way to make life longer we are going to use it anyway. If it's possible it's huge hit. Rich will pay fortunes for it. Even 30 years more would make huge impact to western society.
Listen. It's not about transhumanism. It's about science, technology and business!
Posted by ryboy on 07/21 at 02:42 PM
Having children is all of the following; a biological urge, a lustful mistake, an egocentric desire for a "mini me", a plan for a successor worker/owner/manager who can be trusted,.etc..
I suspect we would all look at this differently if we knew we could live much longer and more productive and healthy lives. Then the little munchkins might be seen as competition among other things, and their arrival might be seriously planned and staged to meet the needs of a sustainable and clearly finite planet.
Also, longer more productive lives might create a new breed of leaders who are older, wiser and less servants to their crasser needs for sex, power, riches and other vices suffered more by the younger leaders among us.
From personal experience, getting older seems to expand the desire to give back. Maybe that is why it is often equated with wisdom. I see this as a win win.
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