A “head start” in the wrong direction isn’t much help.
Imagine a priest in the temple of Zeus, back in Ancient Greece. Really ancient. The time of Homer, not Archimedes. He makes how best to serve the gods the guiding principle of his life. Now, imagine that he is resurrected in the world of today. What do you think would happen to him? He doesn’t speak any modern language. He doesn’t know how to use a toilet. He’d freak out at the sight of a television. Nobody worships the gods any more. Our world would seem not only strange, but blasphemous and immoral, an abomination that ought to be destroyed. His “head start” has given him far more anti-knowledge than actual knowledge.
Of course, he’d know things about the ancient world that we don’t know today, but, even twenty years after he arrived, would you hire him, or a twenty-year-old born raised in the modern world? From almost every perspective I could think of, it would be better to invest resources in raising a newborn than to recreate and rehabilitate a random individual from our barbaric past.
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Me, to The Future: Will you allow me to turn myself into the equivalent of a Larry Niven-style wirehead?
The Future: No.
Me: Will you allow me to end my existence, right now?
The Future: No.
Me: Then screw you, Future.
A “head start” in the wrong direction isn’t much help.
Imagine a priest in the temple of Zeus, back in Ancient Greece. Really ancient. The time of Homer, not Archimedes. He makes how best to serve the gods the guiding principle of his life. Now, imagine that he is resurrected in the world of today. What do you think would happen to him? He doesn’t speak any modern language. He doesn’t know how to use a toilet. He’d freak out at the sight of a television. Nobody worships the gods any more. Our world would seem not only strange, but blasphemous and immoral, an abomination that ought to be destroyed. His “head start” has given him far more anti-knowledge than actual knowledge.
Of course, he’d know things about the ancient world that we don’t know today, but, even twenty years after he arrived, would you hire him, or a twenty-year-old born raised in the modern world? From almost every perspective I could think of, it would be better to invest resources in raising a newborn than to recreate and rehabilitate a random individual from our barbaric past.
----
Me, to The Future: Will you allow me to turn myself into the equivalent of a Larry Niven-style wirehead?
The Future: No.
Me: Will you allow me to end my existence, right now?
The Future: No.
Me: Then screw you, Future.