{"id":2294,"date":"2016-08-29T08:09:14","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T15:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/?p=2294"},"modified":"2016-08-29T08:16:51","modified_gmt":"2016-08-29T15:16:51","slug":"a-particularly-stupid-wish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/?p=2294","title":{"rendered":"A Particularly Stupid Wish"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wishes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2016\/aug\/29\/declare-anthropocene-epoch-experts-urge-geological-congress-human-impact-earth\">like this<\/a> are just plain stupid:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nBut Lord Rees added that there is also cause for optimism. \u201cHuman societies could navigate these threats, achieve a sustainable future, and inaugurate eras of post-human evolution even more marvellous than what\u2019s led to us. The dawn of the Anthropocene epoch would then mark a one-off transformation from a natural world to one where humans jumpstart the transition to electronic (and potentially immortal) entities, that transcend our limitations and eventually spread their influence far beyond the Earth.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is the case for a variety of reasons. Here&#8217;s a few:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The more technologically sophisticated a society is, the more it is dependent on specialized knowledge.<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Extreme specialization is a form of repression; our minds evolved to deal with a world in which we performed a variety of tasks. Already, most people are dissatisfied with their jobs, despite having a freedom of choice in a career; this is because the allowed choices simply have no good answer for most.<\/li>\n<li>A society more dependent on specialization is more difficult to understand and question <em>in toto,<\/em> thus such societies are more difficult to successfully rebel against. Since revolution is the ultimate guarantor of freedom, such societies are highly unlikely to remain free.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<li>The possibility of creating transhuman intelligence raises the possibility that those intelligent beings would treat humans the same way humans treat animals: with a range of options between vermin to be exterminated, farm animals to be ruthlessly exploited, or companions to be doted on and controlled like small children.<\/li>\n<li>It is the rich who could best afford to transform themselves into long-lived or immortal transhumans, thus crystallizing the capitalist class hierarchy into a permanent evolutionary outcome.<\/li>\n<li>Immortality, while at the first glance appealing, is probably the <em>worst<\/em> of all possible outcomes, as it raises the spectre of a ruling elite that could last indefinitely. Gone is the presence of death as the great equalizer, from whom even the worst tyrants and plutocrats cannot escape.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wishes like this are just plain stupid: But Lord Rees added that there is also cause for optimism. \u201cHuman societies could navigate these threats, achieve a sustainable future, and inaugurate eras of post-human evolution even more marvellous than what\u2019s led to us. The dawn of the Anthropocene epoch would then mark a one-off transformation from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,20,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-nature","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}