Wednesday, 14 August 1996
Post No. 3 of 8
by Max More

Paulina, I'm glad you agree that there is a fundamental drive to overcome our limitations. But you seem to throw up your hands in the face of new insights into the complexity of life, as if they justified abandoning the rationality that has brought us this far. (What is your alternative to reason?) Our natural drive to learn and grow is precisely why we champion reason. Irrationality continues to limit us, weaken us, kill us. Extropians champion an open-ended reason - a process of critical thinking that is self-improving. Transhumanism idealizes not the technologies we create, but our ability always to create something better.

We also value the "subjective and intuitive" factors of inspiration, emotion, imagination. These provide vital input to the rational process. But reason is needed to structure these inputs, test them, and use them productively.

As for your comments about dogs, well, dogs aren't humans. It's the human drive to transcend limitations that leads to posthumanity.

Yes, cell death is programmed, but why shouldn't we rewrite the program, granting us a choice of extended life? The idea that "death is a necessary part of the eternal cycle" (at what age? 30? 70? 250?) echoes the age-old belief that slavery and domination of other cultures is natural, inevitable, and desirable. Becoming posthuman involves striving to change old, lethal ways with vital, open-ended ways.

The awareness of death does indeed induce strivings for an afterlife, belief in religions, and desperation. Why, Paulina, do you believe it drives creativity, entrepreneurial activity, and relationships? Anxiety is far from the only driving force, and one of the least healthy. Let's replace it with something more positive. Contrary to Marcus Aurelius's disastrous dictum, I say: Live each day to set the tone for the rest of your life.

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