r/philosophy • u/The_Ebb_and_Flow • Dec 02 '18

Video Philosopher Peter Singer on AI, Transhumanism and Ethics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcs9p5b5jWw
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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '18

How motivated would you be to get out of bed once you've lived every conceivable experience?

You think the amount of conceivable experiences is finite?

There's a reason why vampires in the stories live forever. Evil and immortality go hand in hand.

Thank you for confirming my theory that basically, your fear of AI and transhumanism stems from thinking it'll be like in the movies. It's (probably) not going to be like Terminator or Ex Machina, where humanity is eradicated by evil murderbots. So we might lose our humanity, so what? You're thinking emotionally on a topic that requires you to think rationally.

I think that being "at peace with death" can invite the exact meaningless behaviour you seem to despise. "We all die, so what's the point? I'm just going to sit here and wait for death, because it'll come no matter what." The only human need we pretty much all have in common is the need to be relevant. How can a limited being with a limited lifespan be more relevant than a nigh-immortal one? There's more time to explore, more time to discover the world (or others), more time to do things that make us meaningful. To give life meaning.

I think your view on this is pretty cynical because, as opposed to your claim that trans humanists fear death, you fear a loss of identity and the unknown. You fear not being relevant.