Here is a question for transhumanists: What is the number one goal we should be pursuing?
Judging by the essays and arguments put forward on the topic, it seems that most of us deem ‘achieve immortality’ as the top priority. Anybody who does not consider this to be a goal whose importance is second-to-none, is condemned as a ‘deathist’ or even a person with suicidal tendencies. Everybody- with the possible exception of the insane- want life to go on indefinitely.
Well, that is the politically-correct view of things in transhuman circles. But is it right that immortality really is the top priority?
I would like to argue that, actually, there is another goal that aught to be achieved before we set our sights on the elixir of eternal life. This is not to say that the likes of Aubrey de Grey should give up R+D into SENS, only that this and other possible paths to dramatic or even infinite life extension should not be made out to be more important than the goal I outline below. I want my life to go on indefinitely. I have no desire for it to end whatsoever. But, then, I am kind of privileged in that I have a great life. I am a resident of Second Life and, problems like lag and other technical issues aside, every day is a fun adventure for me. I get to visit beautiful places, I meet lovely and interesting people (I meet some bad people too but have the power to rid myself of their unwanted presence). I am surrounded by the fruits of millions of creative efforts.
Very few people in SL indulge in content creation because it is what they are paid to do. Most of what you find in SL owes its existence to the fact that somebody or some team was passionate about making it. In fact, I have never met anybody who claimed the hope of financial reward is what motivated them to become content creators. Financial reward does come to a few, but it always seems to take second place to recognition amongst peers or just the sheer love of creativity, in terms of motivation.
If you can ignore the many technical issues that bedevil Second Life, for me it stands as an example of what everyday life should be like. A reality in which there is no ‘genetic lottery’ but instead the means to sculpt oneself into a physical appearance that boosts their self-esteem. A world in which nobody does a job they hate, and instead indulges in hobbies that give them a real passion.
I am sorry to say that this kind of reality is not everyday life for a lot of people in that larger plain of existence they call ‘RL’. This is a reality in which quite a few people find themselves with ‘nothing to do’ on a Sunday afternoon, or who have to spend every weekday doing a job they hate (and whose only realistic prospect is to exchange it for another job they will dislike just as much). And, these people are actually quite lucky compared to some real unfortunates out there.So, while I aught to want to live forever, why should those people want their life to go on indefinitely? If you are incapable of avoiding boredom on a Sunday afternoon, why on Earth should you think you could fill an eternity of them? And why should you desire endless weeks of dull work?
I believe we should wag our fingers at folks and tell them they should want life to go on forever, only when another dream has been realized.
And it is this: That TODAY should be great for everybody. Nobody should go hungry, nobody should suffer sickness, nobody should suffer from lack of material wealth, nobody should feel like they have wasted so much as a minute doing work they would rather not do.
Every person should feel as though today were as fulfilling and enriching as it possibly could have been.
Is such a world at all realistic? I believe so. While a utopia devoid of all problems is probably not achievable, the kind of world I just imagined probably is, given the right kind of technologies. Molecular nanotechnology could enable material wealth for all and dramatically lower the environmental damage caused by our current industrial practices. Genetic engineering and prosthetics could enable people to sculpt themselves into their own physical ideal, while nanomedicine could render illness a thing of the past. Advanced robotics could deliver a workforce of tireless operatives who work endlessly, enabling humans to engage in work that really matters to them.
We should really focus our attention on making ‘the best possible today’ a reality for every sentient being on Earth. This should be our number one priority, and not the pursuit of immortality.
That is a wish that only people living in a world in which today is full of wonder and delight would be wise to ask for.
Image 1, 2 – from the Venus Project
August 15, 2014 at 4:09 am
Yes.
Also the pursuit and practice of justice is important;
virtue is unattainable, IMO: all pursuit and no genuine practice of virtue.. no consensus has existed since Medieval times. Modernity has been refractory to virtue—and we should admit such.
But some justice can be known and practiced.
August 15, 2014 at 4:09 am
The thing is you can’t make life great for everybody. Even if you mine the asteroids, have AGI creating super abundance and fix the decay of aging tomorrow you can’t make people feel great about their life. That takes personal self-development. At most you can make it a bit easier to have the time and energy for that self-development. You can fix some of the gross things that might be in the way. But the rest is not up to anyone else.
Even in perfect health, with great physical beauty and all the wealth one can wish for many people manage to still be singularly unhappy. Unhappy people don’t want to live forever because they haven’t figured out how to make it all that enjoyable yet.
August 15, 2014 at 4:09 am
immortality is not a goal that stands in opposition to a better society. Actually, the key to a better society is immortality.
Short-term thinking has been the greatest ill of society, something an immortal cannot allow to stand. For example, why would an immortal allow the planet be stripped of resources or polluted when they will be forced to live there indefinitely?
What immortals would allow the blind excesses or capitalism or an unfair political system to stand when they know that they cannot shift the burden and work to another generation?
On an individual level, immortality is going to foster a better society by preserving the greatest minds, men and women who will not stop their work of improving the world because of age or infirmity. If the last 100 years of history in third-world nations has proven anything, it is that stealing the best and brightest from a nation dooms it to little or no advancement, and I’d argue that the opposite effect could happen by increasing the numbers of brightest minds.
Imagine a world that was filling up with geniuses, thinkers, and problem solvers. Any better society is going to need a critical mass of these people before any real progress can be made, and the only way to reach that critical mass is to prevent the ones that do come along from ending their ability to contribute by something as arbitrary as death or illness.
August 15, 2014 at 5:09 am
I prefer quality not quantity but after quality quantity is an absolute must have.
My desire for an infinite quantity of life is very pressing because I have not really had many years of quality. My life is and has been predominantly filled with endless pain therefore I would like to live long enough so that I can actually enjoy life, which means living long enough until Post-Scarcity, whereupon I will then want endless quantity to enjoy the quality.
I suppose the safest method is to assure endless quantity of life and then you will have infinite breathing space to work on the quality, thus immortality is a big focus for me despite the yearning of my heart being focused on perfect quality.
On the other hand I often think dying would be good because the stupidity of the world is unbearable, the waiting seems to last forever, it is such a long wait when the world is exceptionally painful. Once you are dead you are not likely to worry about being dead thus death could be a better solution to my problems instead of waiting for the Singularity, but I persist. I am in no immediate danger of dying but it would be nice to have a safety-net of immortality so that my life is fully in my hands.
August 15, 2014 at 5:09 am
If people get bored of an eternal life, they can always just kill themselves.
August 15, 2014 at 5:11 am
“Even in perfect health, with great physical beauty and all the wealth one can wish for many people manage to still be singularly unhappy. Unhappy people don’t want to live forever because they haven’t figured out how to make it all that enjoyable yet.”
One v. obvious reason a successful person can be unhappy is the extreme degree of responsibility they have burdened themselves with. Here’s a straightforward example: Nixon made life excessively complicated for himself by way of increasing responsibility—and became rather unhappy in his position.
August 15, 2014 at 5:14 am
Yes. A thousand times yes.
This is exactly how I feel about my own transhumanist goals. What good is having a body that will never wear down or die if it’s a source of constant pain and distress? What can I get out of existing in a society that doesn’t guarantee my civil rights anymore if I become something other than human? Life extension and immortality are fine, but I need to address more pressing issues first. Only then can I focus on extending the then-pleasurable life I’d have.
August 15, 2014 at 5:14 am
Transhumans will probably learn the correct uses of its and it’s!
August 15, 2014 at 5:15 am
The first goal of humanity should be to become more humane. That is we need to evolve ethically before we think to evolve to a state that gives us yet more power to mess up the universe and ourselves. Theodore Sturgeon in his “More than Human” novel set ethics as the final testing point before entering galactic society. At our present rate we will be in kindergarten for millennia.
Thus, before we worry about living forever, or solving all our problems with yet more technology, we must address the essential ethical vacuum that is our global community.
March 22, 2017 at 7:06 am
I’m obviously pretty late to this party, but I have to say this is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read. Alright, let’s go over this. You believe A) people who have achieved this level of satisfaction should wish for Immortality and that B) people who have no achieved this level should not currently wish for Immortality because why would you spend an eternity unsatisfied?
Unfortunately, it’s pretty easy to see that B is massively flawed in that the goal of immortality does not suddenly end scientific or cultural progression. Now, let’s look at your proposed (astoundingly dumb) plan of action. We C) first get everybody to the point where they would want to live their current lives forever, and then we achieve Immortality later.
Yeah, that sounds real f***in’ great. I should die because it takes another 200 years to get everyone happy (which isn’t possible anyway) because God forbid THEY just live a boring or unhappy life for 200 years before we supposedly solve the issue anyway and they would then be happy to live the remainder of eternity alive.
It’s blowing my mind how dumb I feel just writing this out. How could anyone possibly not realize how idiotic this idea is? You are a deathist if you want billions to die just so the starting point of immortality is 100% joy & fulfillment. How about you eat a fat d***?