34 replies to this topic

[Kolos]

I'm not sure if becoming transhuman, human supercomputer etc. is something desirable for mormons or other religious groups that might believe in some sort of spiritual self-improvement. They might believe that by loosing our body we also loose our contact with the "spiritual world" or even that it's death (which might be true in a way) and it doesn't change anything because our soul would remain human. It's similar with heaven and hell, we might create such places or states of consciousness using let's say VR technology but that doesn't mean christians would like it because they already believe that this places exist. In other words it might be attractive mostly for people who don't believe too strongly in their religion or perhaps they are not religious at all anymore but they still have this concepts in their heads but are too rational to believe in them. Luckily there are many people like that this days...

[chris w]

I'm not sure if becoming transhuman, human supercomputer etc. is something desirable for mormons or other religious groups that might believe in some sort of spiritual self-improvement. They might believe that by loosing our body we also loose our contact with the "spiritual world" or even that it's death (which might be true in a way) and it doesn't change anything because our soul would remain human. It's similar with heaven and hell, we might create such places or states of consciousness using let's say VR technology but that doesn't mean christians would like it because they already believe that this places exist. In other words it might be attractive mostly for people who don't believe too strongly in their religion or perhaps they are not religious at all anymore but they still have this concepts in their heads but are too rational to believe in them. Luckily there are many people like that this days...

I guess you're right, it just makes me so angry that religious people in today's world still have this strange armor against any chance of being ridiculed. When somebody like the Mormons believes that there is a corporeal alien god living on a distant planet together with his harem and the court of angels, and he wasn't even born that way, he just achieved it somehow, then as ridiculous as that sounds, no one is going to say anything, because that's "their religion", but if you start talking about medical nanobots or genetic engineering - you get this "Yeeahh, right" . I was just thinking that it would be cool if we could somehow steal some of that armor from them, to get to where we want to, but it's probably a lost cause.

Edited by chris w, 18 April 2010 - 04:10 PM.

[Kolos]

I guess you're right, it just makes me so angry that religious people in today's world still have this strange armor against any chance of being ridiculed. When somebody like the Mormons believes that there is a corporeal alien god living on a distant planet together with his harem and the court of angels, and he wasn't even born that way, he just achieved it somehow, then as ridiculous as that sounds, no one is going to say anything, because that's "their religion", but if you start talking about medical nanobots or genetic engineering - you get this "Yeeahh, right" . I was just thinking that it would be cool if we could somehow steal some of that armor from them, to get to where we want to, but it's probably a lost cause.

Many people already accuse Singularity movement of being a cult of some sort so I'm not sure it would be such a good idea if you don't want people to associate such ideas with scientology etc. It would be also weird to accuse someone of hurting your futuristic feelings or something like that, if you want to be serious that is. People could respect religious feelings of Mormons and such butt that doesn't mean they take their beliefs seriously, perhaps they just don't laugh from them publicly but it's not like every religion is equally respected even in the most tolerant societies. Anyway I'm not sure this "shield" is something positive we should copy, I hate it when religious people use this "hurt feelings" card. I say it's better o be open to criticism, even when it's stupid.

[chris w]

I guess you're right, it just makes me so angry that religious people in today's world still have this strange armor against any chance of being ridiculed. When somebody like the Mormons believes that there is a corporeal alien god living on a distant planet together with his harem and the court of angels, and he wasn't even born that way, he just achieved it somehow, then as ridiculous as that sounds, no one is going to say anything, because that's "their religion", but if you start talking about medical nanobots or genetic engineering - you get this "Yeeahh, right" . I was just thinking that it would be cool if we could somehow steal some of that armor from them, to get to where we want to, but it's probably a lost cause.

Many people already accuse Singularity movement of being a cult of some sort so I'm not sure it would be such a good idea if you don't want people to associate such ideas with scientology etc. It would be also weird to accuse someone of hurting your futuristic feelings or something like that, if you want to be serious that is. People could respect religious feelings of Mormons and such butt that doesn't mean they take their beliefs seriously, perhaps they just don't laugh from them publicly but it's not like every religion is equally respected even in the most tolerant societies. Anyway I'm not sure this "shield" is something positive we should copy, I hate it when religious people use this "hurt feelings" card. I say it's better o be open to criticism, even when it's stupid.

I agree that the last thing we want would be to be perceived as another cult with our own Tom Criuse and Travolta, and I'm all for people hurting my futuristic ideas, as long as it's a reasonable discussion. I was thinking more of the line of seeking strategic allies in all this, sort of even "hijacking" another meme already more deeply grounded in the society ( a small, but not insignificant religious denomination in this case ), only to stand better chances in reaching the destination, sure, ethically doubtfull, but I could live with it at the end.

[Reno]

At this point in human history we've had to rely on civilization to survive and advance. I look at the singularity in terms of social independence. It would bring about an age where for once in human history people were not dieing of war, starvation, or disease. We would be completely responsible to ourselves and to no one else.