dR/dt
What will happen to us as we change our minds? Will we merge into some
group entity? Will we discard logic and intellect for newly honed
instincts? Will we not change much at all? Much SF of this area that
doesn't swerve into metapsychic ecstasy sees the coming of superlogical,
superational minds -- usually with built-in calculation abilities, the
latter derived from a confusion between the computers of today and
"electronic intelligence." On the extropians mailing list this latter
assumption was questioned, and it was answered by Carl Feynman,
Carl_feynman@adventure.com. Reprinted here with Feynman's permission.
From extropians-request@extropy.org Sat Jun 3 22:55:02 1995
From: "Carl Feynman"
Subject: uploading, rationality, critiques
X-Extropian-Date: Remailed on June 4, 375 P.N.O. [01:48:00 UTC]
"Another shortcomong that I've found with some extropians, seems to
be their notion that advanced intelligence will really be just a more
rigorous, faster, and more efficient form of rationality. ... "
It seems to me that thinking about our future minds as being "more rational"
that our present ones is correct, for the following reason. The innate
structure of our brain (or architecture of our mind, or "human nature"-- all
the same thing) is shared with our Stone Age ancestors. It's a highly
evolved mechanism for gathering food, not getting lost in the woods, raising
children, getting along with our neighbors, etc. For such activites, you
don't need rationality very much. But for dealing with absolutely novel
activites, ones evolution has not prepared us for, we have to use tools like
statistics, mathematics, legal codes, logical analysis-- all the things that
come under the heading of `rationality'.
I don't use reason to decide when to make love to my wife, how to play with
my daughter, or where to put my hand to catch a thrown ball. I just do what
feels right, and it works, and I am filled with joy. But I do need reason
to decide when to rebalance my portfolio, how to debug a C++ program, or
where to point a satellite dish to catch a broadcast. As the onward rush of
civilization removes us from the environment to which our heredity has
adapted us, the guidance of joy must yield to the guidance of reason.
I hope that our impending abilities to modify ourselves can make us better
adapted to a world in which novelty is incessant, and thus in which reason
is essential. Surely there is some way for us to be both more rational and
more joyful.
--Carl Feynman
Me.