X-Message-Number: 20981
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 04:56:50 -0500
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: CryoNet #20963 - #20971

This message is for James Swayze:

In your reply to me you raised a second issue, fundamentally that
of whether we could use a suitable technology to make someone
perfect. I said no, and said that I would answer you in a separate
message. Your comment here, after all, wasn't really about 
molecular nanotechnological repair.

I am not claiming that we cannot make improvements, not at all.
I am claiming that we will not achieve PERFECTION, two very different
issues. And many fundamental problems get in the way of perfection.

First, the easiest one is ERRORS. Not all errors are immediately
clear. Those errors we can fix. But some are obscure enough that
we only find out about them after we've used our technological
device(s) several times. The occurrence of such errors comes
basically from entropy, but their multiplicity includes many
things that we felt sure would not happen and others we did not
imagine COULD happen.

Second, we may fail to see all the consequences of a change to
ourselves or others. Suppose you decided that you wanted the
ability to read others' minds. You had thought about it and 
did not feel uncomfortable with other people having the same
ability. But that's not the way it turned out. Others objected
violently to your ability, so you form a group of those who 
also have that ability. And so you go off with this group and
discover, to your dismay, that you all are losing your
individuality...

Third, we may mistake what we wanted. No one has ever proven
or even claimed that all our desires and wants are consistent.
Basically we live (or try to live) in circumstances in which
their inconsistency doesn't show itself. One thing that can
happen if we change ourselves is that our inconsistency
shows itself. Suppose you wanted skin that made you invulnerable
to attack. However that skin also turns out to make it 
uncomfortable for anyone who wants to stroke you out of 
love for you. Even if we went as far as to invent a changeable
form of skin, sometimes hard, sometimes soft, that would leave
the choice of just which form up to you (or your hormones?),
neither of which could always be guaranteed to the right.

Fundamentally I doubt that we'll ever achieve perfection 
not just because all previous attempts have ludicrously
failed, but because as human beings we are already far
too changeable to ever become perfect. Perfection is an 
attribute of diamonds, not of people.

          Best wishes and long long life for all,

                Thomas Donaldson

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