Oops, I edited my comment before noticing you’d replied to it.
The fact that you keep saying “intelligent life” indicates to me that you think intelligence is the one important thing, and my list is too long. But you also say the list is anthropomorphic, implying it is incomplete.
I think now that you’re still saying intelligence is the One Big Thing that you care about. We (in the futurist community) do this all the time. We routinely say, for instance, that pigs are more intelligent than cows, and therefore it’s ethically worse to eat pork than to eat beef. It seems to me like a very tall person assuming that tallness is the most important virtue.
As for why I don’t say Life instead of Intelligence Life, that is because I think that Life itself will continue in one fashion or another regardless of what we do.
I do think that Intelligence is important now that we have it, and that may be similar to a tall man assuming that tallness is the most important virtue in some eyes (although I find it to be a stretch of an analogy—Tallness is obviously a disadvantage at many times, and I could probably find a good reason to favor shortness… But, that aside...).
I don’t know why Intelligence would not be (or, to use a word that I hate: Why it should be) the characteristic that should be most valued. Is there a reason that Intelligence should not be the most important factor or characteristic of life?
Oops, I edited my comment before noticing you’d replied to it.
The fact that you keep saying “intelligent life” indicates to me that you think intelligence is the one important thing, and my list is too long. But you also say the list is anthropomorphic, implying it is incomplete.
I think now that you’re still saying intelligence is the One Big Thing that you care about. We (in the futurist community) do this all the time. We routinely say, for instance, that pigs are more intelligent than cows, and therefore it’s ethically worse to eat pork than to eat beef. It seems to me like a very tall person assuming that tallness is the most important virtue.
As for why I don’t say Life instead of Intelligence Life, that is because I think that Life itself will continue in one fashion or another regardless of what we do.
I do think that Intelligence is important now that we have it, and that may be similar to a tall man assuming that tallness is the most important virtue in some eyes (although I find it to be a stretch of an analogy—Tallness is obviously a disadvantage at many times, and I could probably find a good reason to favor shortness… But, that aside...).
I don’t know why Intelligence would not be (or, to use a word that I hate: Why it should be) the characteristic that should be most valued. Is there a reason that Intelligence should not be the most important factor or characteristic of life?