The @nytimes asked me to write about 'what it means to be human today.'https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/opinion/life-is-short-thats-the-point.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fthe-stone&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection …
-
Show this thread
-
This was the most profoundly unethical, anti-life, anti-utilitarian, and morally disgusting thing I've ever read in a major newspaper. Astonished that anyone could take such a callous and inhumane view of existence that they think death is the only source of meaning.
13 replies 10 retweets 82 likes -
The simple argument "death is OBVIOUSLY bad, duh!" only works until potential fertility rises to point where one person's existence necessarily prevents another's. Then we must deal w/ the hard question "who gets to exist?" w/ the answer "everyone, forever!" no longer available.
1 reply 1 retweet 1 like -
We are millions of years away from that point, even assuming maximum galactic colonization rates.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
I don't see how we won't reach it as soon as minds are digitised - software can replicate instantly. This seems a robust prediction, true for both
@robinhanson ems and de novo AI, & for either a vast multipolar AI civilisation or a single superintelligence deciding what happens.1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
Oh I see. Yeah. I don't think most journalists peddling the pro-death trance are thinking in terms of self-replicating Ems eating up cycles...
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.