This, btw, makes me sceptical about predictions of radical increases in intelligence (of us or of our creations) bringing about paradise.
To the extent that a boring place probably isn’t paradise, sure. But a world in which almost all of your effort is spent tussling with other minds at your level seems much better than, say, the present world, where much of your effort is spent on the annoyances of corporeal existence.
Yes, things can get better. Better than we can barely imagine. But by that standard, we’re already living in the paradise of the past, and it’s not exactly happy ever after, is it?
Do you include in the scope of that ‘fix’ dealing with problems associated with population, promotion, ambition, recidivist criminals who (after serving a few terms in jail) have time to learn to be good at crime, etc?
How does that differ from saying “Given unlimited time to fix all social problems, society will eventually become a paradise” or “The root problem with current society is that we have not yet had sufficient time to fix all the other problems with it”? Couldn’t the same be said about any imperfect society? I don’t see how it is praise for the state of our current society versus previous societies.
To the extent that a boring place probably isn’t paradise, sure. But a world in which almost all of your effort is spent tussling with other minds at your level seems much better than, say, the present world, where much of your effort is spent on the annoyances of corporeal existence.
Yes, things can get better. Better than we can barely imagine. But by that standard, we’re already living in the paradise of the past, and it’s not exactly happy ever after, is it?
It’s ok! Fix death and I’d be cool with it.
Do you include in the scope of that ‘fix’ dealing with problems associated with population, promotion, ambition, recidivist criminals who (after serving a few terms in jail) have time to learn to be good at crime, etc?
We would, as they say, have as long as we liked to sort out those sorts of issues.
How does that differ from saying “Given unlimited time to fix all social problems, society will eventually become a paradise” or “The root problem with current society is that we have not yet had sufficient time to fix all the other problems with it”? Couldn’t the same be said about any imperfect society? I don’t see how it is praise for the state of our current society versus previous societies.