- Faisel Butt
- London
- United Kingdom
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Why Nick Bostrom is wrong about the problems we face as humanity
Please watch the linked TEDtalk :“Nick Bostrom on our biggest problems”
NB's argument for death of ageing being a problem for humanity is the loss of information. Doubling the lifespan of people would only result in more information being lost when they die.
Although we should seek ways to prolong our lives it is not in any way one of humanity's biggest problems. The process of natural death and birth at the current rate does not seem to interfere with the progress of humanity.
The lost information in the library of Alexandria isn't comparable to the information an individual possesses. When people die of ageing they have usually spread their ideas and the information relevant to humanity. The library was the accumulated knowledge of a civilisation that cannot be retrieved.
NB completely overlooks the quality of information and its relevance to humanity.
Death is a problem for humanity when it's premature. When people die before they have chance to fulfil their potential and contribute to humanity. A substantial amount of people die prematurely of preventable causes. This is where we lose information relevant to humanity.
Should we succeed in preventing these deaths in the future, the challenge is to create societies where everyone have access to knowledge and education in order to harvest their potential.
Extrapolating deaths to include the possible future offspring as NB does is just a way to inflate numbers for dramatic purposes. Following this logic abortion, contraception, homosexuality and abstinence are all major problems of humanity.
NB states the abstinence of trans-humanism as a big problem. Surely we can benefit from this technology, but is being in a constant state of happiness and comfort really beneficial to humanity? I believe that overcoming challenges is how we grow as humans. Branches on trees grow towards the sunlight because the part that does not receive sunlight grows faster.
Same AsIs
I have a question for you; why do people believe living longer individually will bring on answers that thousands of years of accumulated thought has not?
I just read and replied to your conversation with George and I agree so I just left this here if you want to talk...and I have not heard the Nick talk...
Faisel Butt
Thanks for your comments.
I can only attribute the quest for longevity disguised as a problem for humanity to lack of perspective. Again I am not opposing the idea itself, but if we double our lifespans while people still die of easily preventable causes - is that really the best use of resources for humanity? It certainly goes directly against the argument of lost information.
In my opinion misinformation is one of the biggest problems we are facing. An example is American presidential candidate Rick Santorum who while campaigning talked about 5 % of all deaths in Holland being from involuntary euthanasia - something that was completely made up. His spokesperson later defended him by saying that Santorum spoke what was in his heart. How personal opinions somehow can refute facts is beyond my comprehension.
As the world gets more complex and harder to grasp, we tend to look for easy solutions, but far too often these solutions are in opposition to rationality and logic. I strongly believe that rationality and logic are essential tools for human progress.
Same AsIs
Faisel Butt
Same AsIs
Faisel Butt
Regardless of how you feel about humanity - we are here and there are 7 billion of us. Rather than seeing humans as a disturbance of the balance on earth, one should look into how we can improve our conditions for existence on this planet.
There are a couple of brilliant TEDtalks that I think you should watch.
This one is Robert Wright on non-zero sum interactions:
http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_wright_on_optimism.html
And watch any talk by Hans Rosling.
I think we still are in a very early stage of development, and the path we have taken to get here is not pretty. But on a large scale things are going in the right direction.
Same AsIs
Random Chance 30+
It was just stolen.
Faisel Butt
However, the way the library was lost isn't really relevant for the discussion.
george lockwood 20+
Faisel Butt
I do not have a problem with longer, healthier and more productive lives. Not at all. I disagree with Nick Bostrom's way of trying to promote this idea. Just because it is desirable for the individual does not in any way make it a problem for humanity. And by doing so he completely ignores actual problems that we face.
Rather than presenting the ideas of this technology with all the positive and negative implications it might have, he uncritically presents it as a solution to humanity's problems.
Some of the examples he uses are ways to eradicate negative emotions and doubts. There is a much greater debate to be had here that Nick Bostrom completely ignores in favour of mindless enthusiasm for transhumanism.
I also have a problem with the arguments he uses. For instance the information that is lost when when people die. It is simply a false argument that I suspect is based on personal emotions rather than scientific exploration of the subject matter.
Same AsIs
Barry Palmer 50+
Too many people are never satisfied because they always want more.
His selection of biggest problems are subjective and reflect priorities that are not widely shared.
Faisel Butt
Although I don't think Nick Bostrom personally is one of humanity's big problems, he does in this case spread misinformation disguised as science, which I believe is a big obstacle for human progress in the world today.