Critical Thinking for the Masses

Immortal beloved

2006-06-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine came over to our house sporting a brand new bracelet (and a rather attractive one at that). I complimented him and he said that it is a lot more than just an accesoir. Similar to the ones worn by people with diabetes and other chronic conditions, this bracelet also contains important medical information. It is designed to inform medical personnel about the wearer's desire to be cryogenically preserved in case of a terminal disease or an accident just to be revived when medical science makes sufficient advances.

I must be completely honest, I didn't like the idea. Things like this are the antithesis of the idea of e contrario and of critical thinking (never mind the fact that this friend is extremely intelligent). I didn't like it because there's little evidence that cryogenics is an effective way of preserving tissue over a long period of time, because many people by the time they die have not only their bodies but their brains deeply affected, because it is unclear that brain reconstruction would not result in dramatic personality changes and the loss of "I". In other words the person coming out of cryogenic stasis may not be the person that went into it. I did not like the fact that the companies providing this service (see links below) have rather questionable credibility and look like something advertised in infomertials at 2:00 AM. I didn't like the "but what if" marketing strategy (no, we can not answer any of these questions, but what if somehow all of these unlikely things work themselves out and it's only $1200 per year).

Yet that is not what prompted me to write this blog. The idea of immortality is pervasive in human lore. Most of our gods are immortal. We've been searching for the elixir of eternal life and the fountain of youth. Lonesome sells a rejuvenate eye cream (from Latin iuvenis - young).

So how do we envision immortality and what would we do with it if we had it? Do we honestly think that science will find a way to stop all aging processes? Or even reverse them? Will we have a "dial an age" machine that will freeze frame us at any age we chose? Or will it be a biobot imbued with our personality? And if so, will our new vessels affect our thinking and our personality and also lead to loss of the original "I"? And will it have a full range of sensory inputs that define our existence? Will we be able to enjoy duck confit with a prefect glass of Pinot or a kiss of a loved one or affection of a dog? And if not that, then what? And where would we find energy and food to sustain us all? And will immortality be only for the rich?

And another thing... How much of what we do and how we live is driven by the realization of inevitability of our death? How would human behavior and society change without the fear of it? Will we become even more reckless and self-destructive than we already are?

I guess my problem with immortality is similar to my problem with the religious concept of afterlife. If this never ends, then there's an infinite number of second chances, then there's no reason to get out of bed and accomplish anything today because you can always accomplish it tomorrow...or in a hundred years. Qualities like drive, ambition, competitiveness, may simply disappear. How can one win a race that never ends?

As it is, people watch more TV and engage in other "inactivities" than ever before. Basic necessities of food and entertainment have become cheap and easily accessible. With more people having too much time for entertainment and not enough artists motivated to create it, I can envision a future with an infinite number of bioborgs plugged into the superweb endlessly watching direct server to brain feeds of re-runs of Sex in the City.

E -
Cryonics Institute
Alcor

Freedom's just another word...

2006-06-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

…for nothing left to lose according to Kris Kristofferson. Webster's defines freedom as "The condition of being free of restrains". It also offers another definition: "Exemption from the arbitrary exercise of authority in the performance of a specific action; civil liberty." So there appear to be 2 freedoms: an internal and an external one. One is imposed by self and one imposed by our environment.

We like to talk about our freedom and to think that we live in a free world. But do we? And more importantly is it good to be free? Kris Kristofferson implies that we are free only when we shed our dependence on emotional and material possessions. Same thought is echoed in the first Webster's definition. After all, our emotions are our restrains.

Yet both our emotional and material attachments are an inalienable part of who we are. If you love your spouse, your kids, you dog or if you want to make sure that you have shelter that your kids are well clothed and educated; does it make you less free? Unquestionably, yes! But is that bad?

I've discussed this topic with many people over the years, and it is not difficult to convince someone that human existence is impossible without deep emotional attachments, in spite of the fact that they clearly limit our personal freedom. Material possessions are a different story. While discretionary consumption (consumption outside of basic human needs) has reached unprecedented levels, more and more voices in the intellectual avant-garde caution that we are gradually becoming slaves to our possessions.

This danger exists and it is quite serious. And yet, while material things do limit our freedom in one way (we have that much more to lose). They also enable other forms of freedom. Huge explosions in scientific and artistic expression in human history are frequently associated with times of relative material prosperity. It is much easier to justify spending time on art and science when a certain level of personal comfort is reached above and beyond the very basic needs. Think of Greece, Rome, Renaissance. A Hadzabe tribesman in Northern Tanzania is free in ways we would find hard to understand, yet he is not free to visit his relatives mere 100 kilometers away on a Wednesday afternoon or read a few anecdotes from the life of Dick Feynman before he goes to sleep.

Freedom is a balancing act. Or more accurately, there’s no one big freedom. There are many little freedoms. We juggle them all the time, giving up some to gain others. Finding that equilibrium is like mixing a perfect Margarita. I like mine really sour with fresh lime juice and only a little bit of Cuantro for sweetness. Tequila has to be of the highest quality but preferably silver to limit oakiness. I like coarse kosher or sea salt on the rim of the glass. And of course never blended. I wish you luck finding your own recipe for personal freedom and for a perfect Margarita. For both are essential to a happy life.

Econtrario -

PS. Stay tuned for a blog on external freedom

Evolution of Mind

2006-06-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Religion has been used by the upper echelon (clergy, aristocracy, business interests) to control societal behavior for millennia. And while a lot of people still believe in god, organized religion is losing its control over our minds. In search of ways to control the populus, our leaders realized that they can use other tools to produce same results.

They found what it takes to ignite pious fervor even in the most militant of atheists. Eliminate grey areas!!! Establish absolute rights, wrongs, blacks and whites. Their mantra is “You are either with us or against us”. The issue is irrelevant. Reason, scientific method and critical thinking go out of the window.

These methods are used on both sides of the political spectrum. Timid tree-hugging, hemp-wearing vegetarians poor red paint over fur-enshrouded matrons in San Francisco’s Union Square. Middle-aged gentlemen with double digit IQs shoot abortion doctors and blow up clinics. Why? Because they are right. And what is infinitely more important, everybody else is WRONG!

Singularity of purpose, clarity of vision and lack of any doubt is what we expect of our leaders. They are either pro-environment or pro-business, pro-choice or pro-life, fiscal conservatives or social progressives. We like it that way. It makes us feel RIGHTEOUS.

With advances in medical science and technology our bodies have begun to devolve, but our minds entered a new phase of evolution (another polarizing issue). As a part of this process, religion is playing a lesser role in people’s lives and perhaps with time, we will evolve enough to see grey.

This blog was inspired by GREENIE WATCH

Curiosity killed the cat

2006-06-15T16:40:00.000-07:00

Will Airborne vitamin supplement cure my cold?
Creationism or Evolution (or Intelligent design or Big Bang)?
Do paper toilet seat covers protect from exposure to contaminants?
Did US go into Iraq to secure an oil supply (or to help Israel, or to show an example of democracy to the Middle East, or may be even to find Weapons of Mass Destruction)?
Is there a god?
Can I go to a real estate seminar advertised on midnight TV and get rich buying properties with no money down?

I'm not going to attempt to answer any of these questions in my blog (although I certainly intend to comment on them). But I will try to make you think and ask your own questions.

Little children ask questions all the time. Many parents attempt to establish their authority by teaching their children not to question them. Remember something like this from your own youth: "But why, dad?". "Because I said so!" Perhaps because of that or perhaps because we simply fool ourselves into believing that ,as adults, we actually know something of this world that surrounds us; we start asking fewer and fewer questions.

Econtrario -