X-Message-Number: 27458
From: "Jordan Sparks" <>
Subject: Dr. de Grey on 60 Minutes
Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2006 20:19:27 -0800

Did anyone else watch it?  The first thing that struck me is that he needs
some dental work to correct his terrible lisp.  I know that's not entirely
fair of me since it's unrelated to the main topic, but I think it says
something about his credibility if he neglects his teeth.   The next thing
that struck me is that he's simply far too optimistic about the time frame.
I thought it was interesting that both of the other scientists they
interviewed were skeptical.  Yet, when pressed, their only objection seemed
to be that it wouldn't happen in the immediate future.  They did not seem to
be able to think about the possibilities beyond the next few decades.  The
impression I got was that they had no problem with de Grey's science, but
they just couldn't see humanity solving the difficult engineering obstacles
anytime soon.
 
This is also the case with cryonics.  Most people don't seem to be able to
extrapolate beyond a few decades into the future.  Humans are simply not
used to having to plan that far into the future.  So really, cryonicists and
non-cryonicists don't disagree that much about current capabilities.  What
we disagree on is what the distant future will hold.
 
One more thing...  Doesn't the ability to extrapolate hundreds of years into
the future represent a higher level of intelligence?  As everyone knows,
it's our ability to think about the bigger picture and consequences which
separates us from animals who act on instinct.  The farther into the future
we can plan, and the better we can extrapolate the consequences of each
action, the more intelligence it demonstrates.  That should be one of our
primary goals as transhumanists, to improve our models of the world,
especially as tools of prediction.
 
Jordan Sparks
 


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