Much going in circles there. One good line, though:
"The whole point of dualism is to defend the ramparts of mystery that surround the mind, to insure that the mind continues to set us apart from (and, more to the point, above) the rest of nature and remains forever beyond the reach of scientific inquiry."
That's a good remark. Much of dualism is about insisting that us humans are at the top of the food chain. Humans must be special, right? Right? Made in the image of God. Entitled to dominion over the lesser species. Dualism is part theology, part entitlement, and part racism/speciesism.
This becomes a sharper issue as AIs start to pass humans in more areas. Until recently, this line of argument didn't matter. Now it sort of does.
> Because the ultimate object of our quest is to find God.
No, that's a waste of time, I'd say that the ultimate object of our quest is to find harmony, balance, and peace with ourselves, not nirvana, which is another waste of time as desire is our propeller when we are young and shouldn't be suppressed, but an equilibrium between pleasure and pain, risk and reward, every decision you make that produces a better outcome overall for your life, because life is just a bag filled with good and bad decisions according to the rules of the universe. Jump from a cliff and your life ends, smoke for 50 years and you get lung cancer. It's all about decisions and the points you accumulate.
Btw, the AI response at the end is touching but true, we can learn a lot from it about life and death, about how we should engage while we are living, not a craving to keep living forever
I find it weird how people think sometimes. You're making an argument against religion in general and moral values. And what should we do instead?
> ... find harmony, balance, and peace with ourselves ...
That's called religion.
> ... and the points you accumulate.
That's religion too. And I get it, that's a really good way to tell people they need to work for others, but life does not work like that at all.
As someone who works in a hospital, let me tell you: life is fundamentally unfair. Some people can abuse their own bodies endlessly for fun and nothing happens. Some kids are born unable to move. And everything in between. There's no points. There's just lucky bastards and very sad stories who never had a chance, never did anything wrong. And that would be fine if the difference between great and normal body would be 10% more punishment. But it's more like 500% in practice. And the difference between "normal" and sad stories is bigger still.
Much going in circles there. One good line, though:
"The whole point of dualism is to defend the ramparts of mystery that surround the mind, to insure that the mind continues to set us apart from (and, more to the point, above) the rest of nature and remains forever beyond the reach of scientific inquiry."
That's a good remark. Much of dualism is about insisting that us humans are at the top of the food chain. Humans must be special, right? Right? Made in the image of God. Entitled to dominion over the lesser species. Dualism is part theology, part entitlement, and part racism/speciesism.
This becomes a sharper issue as AIs start to pass humans in more areas. Until recently, this line of argument didn't matter. Now it sort of does.
> Because the ultimate object of our quest is to find God.
No, that's a waste of time, I'd say that the ultimate object of our quest is to find harmony, balance, and peace with ourselves, not nirvana, which is another waste of time as desire is our propeller when we are young and shouldn't be suppressed, but an equilibrium between pleasure and pain, risk and reward, every decision you make that produces a better outcome overall for your life, because life is just a bag filled with good and bad decisions according to the rules of the universe. Jump from a cliff and your life ends, smoke for 50 years and you get lung cancer. It's all about decisions and the points you accumulate.
Btw, the AI response at the end is touching but true, we can learn a lot from it about life and death, about how we should engage while we are living, not a craving to keep living forever
I find it weird how people think sometimes. You're making an argument against religion in general and moral values. And what should we do instead?
> ... find harmony, balance, and peace with ourselves ...
That's called religion.
> ... and the points you accumulate.
That's religion too. And I get it, that's a really good way to tell people they need to work for others, but life does not work like that at all.
As someone who works in a hospital, let me tell you: life is fundamentally unfair. Some people can abuse their own bodies endlessly for fun and nothing happens. Some kids are born unable to move. And everything in between. There's no points. There's just lucky bastards and very sad stories who never had a chance, never did anything wrong. And that would be fine if the difference between great and normal body would be 10% more punishment. But it's more like 500% in practice. And the difference between "normal" and sad stories is bigger still.