28 ms·

>There are a lot of people who think that human life is more than a mere bacteria-like existence, and that its value extends beyond our biological goals and lim

>There are a lot of people who think that human life is more than a mere bacteria-like existence, and that its value extends beyond our biological goals and limitations. Whether you like it or not, we have long since started to explore problem spaces that could simply never be addressed with mindless biological evolution. For a few thousand years now we are in the process of out-growing our original substrate. As a civilization we're engaged in a complex struggle to eventually grow beyond an existence that is defined only by the most basic biological needs. This is very well put. The 'process of out-growing our original substrate' is an interesting way to phrase advanced human growth, and one that resonates with me. I don't think we're alone in doing so (as far as life is concerned), and think we are more like our bacterial forebearers than our collective egos would care to admit, but I couldn't agree more that this is what we are doing.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago
Seems right; but I can't help thinking all we do that is not related to the physical is, by definition, imaginary. We THINK we're doing things, but its all fantasy stuff - art, math, philosophy. Imagine a different biology of intelligent beings - maybe an amoebic colony-mass of semi-intelligent cells that create a group brain. What would their philosophy look like? Would they have trade or commerce or families or anything we would recognize? I think No. But they have 'left their substrate' too. Yet there's no common ground with us. That means, most of what we do 'beyond our biological goals' is in fact still rooted in our biology.
- bradleysmith 12y ago
  Very interesting. I'm going to have to ponder on that one. I agree that goals 'beyond our biology' are, quite basically, rooted IN THAT biology. We can never trust our perception to be anything other than a reflection of that biology, so I see your point. >Would they have trade or commerce or families or anything we would recognize? using different language, maybe. They WOULD have resource transmission and interactions, methods of managing scarcity, and methods of categorizing and identifying individual nodes in their system.
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    Its a fun game to imagine 10 commandments for alien races. E.g. Thou Shalt Kill thy Father, Mother and CoProgenitors for a race that eats their ancestors to process their neurological tissue and preserve their knowledge and personalities.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago

Seems right; but I can't help thinking all we do that is not related to the physical is, by definition, imaginary. We THINK we're doing things, but its all fantasy stuff - art, math, philosophy. Imagine a different biology of intelligent beings - maybe an amoebic colony-mass of semi-intelligent cells that create a group brain. What would their philosophy look like? Would they have trade or commerce or families or anything we would recognize? I think No. But they have 'left their substrate' too. Yet there's no common ground with us. That means, most of what we do 'beyond our biological goals' is in fact still rooted in our biology.

bradleysmith 12y ago
Very interesting. I'm going to have to ponder on that one. I agree that goals 'beyond our biology' are, quite basically, rooted IN THAT biology. We can never trust our perception to be anything other than a reflection of that biology, so I see your point. >Would they have trade or commerce or families or anything we would recognize? using different language, maybe. They WOULD have resource transmission and interactions, methods of managing scarcity, and methods of categorizing and identifying individual nodes in their system.
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  Its a fun game to imagine 10 commandments for alien races. E.g. Thou Shalt Kill thy Father, Mother and CoProgenitors for a race that eats their ancestors to process their neurological tissue and preserve their knowledge and personalities.