[FRIAM] Future of Humanity

[Prof David West]

"Apres moi, le deluge."

davew


On Sun, Oct 3, 2021, at 12:51 PM, Steve Smith wrote:
>> 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
>
>
>
>
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