[FRIAM] Future of Humanity

[Steve Smith]

> I frankly can't imagine our "species" (Homo faber) surviving our own
> short sightedness long enough to make it to posthumanism. I suspect
> that Homo sapiens will survive the environmental apocalypse to come,
> but that the majority of our highly interdependent society will
> quickly fall apart. IMHO.
>

Gary -

I don't think we disagree.

If we don't crash the biosphere beyond the ability to support our
"advanced" technological lifestyles, we may crash our
socio-political-economic systems to the point that we will have to face
a massive phase change in the climate/biosphere *without* the
techno-leverage we have become accustomed to... 

In fact, if we watch the fragility of *other* large mammals and in
particular other *apex predators*,  it seems likely that the impending
changes will simply collapse any biological niche we might be able to
adapt into *without* outrageous tech (e.g. genome editing, advanced
materials science/nanotech, etc).   Our global high-tech capability
*appears* to be it's own fragile "ecosystem" (see how COVID and then a
wedged ship in the Suez triggered supply chain issues which are still
ringing through the system).

I used *post* instead of *trans* to talk about a world *after* humans...
some utopianist AI/Robotics types seem to think that some kind of
manifest destiny will ensure that machine conscousness or uploaded human
consciousness  will take over where homo-sapiens left off.   I can't say
this is "impossible" but I sure don't see how aiming for or depending on
that is a very good idea...  I'm not sure whatever
consciousness/intelligence in those contexts will look like.   Will it
be as different from us as we are from Bonobos, or more likely Slime Mold? 

I don't know... many of us here will probably not live long enough to
see the worst of it, but those with children, grandchildren must be
struggling with that very *personal* arc of implications.   Today I saw
an article stating bluntly that we literally need to *abolish* fossil
fuel extraction (or at least combustion) ASAP and we will still suffer a
highly disturbed climate and the consequential echoes through the
biosphere in our grandchildren's lifetimes.

My advice/strategy to my own progeny revolves around developing as much
*flexibility* and *general intelligence/problem-solving skills* as
possible.  

I strongly believe that a new near eusocial mode of humanity will be
what survives best... that may be very low-tech or very high tech or
some odd hybrid (high tech design, low tech implementation?)...

Mumble,

 - Steve