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Make up a guy

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Re: Make up a guy

#171
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Unless I’m missing something, it amounts to making a slave race out of someone’s mind scan People most of the time have scope insensitivity, while sometimes it hits home There is always death at a relatively soon point in the real world. The scan slave can be tortured with the worst methods you can think of for hundreds of thousands of relative millennia at will, and it will have happened countless times for differe…

> There is no such relief in the story I have not yet read the story but if the human is recreated every time from the same immutable data, and doesn't have any recollection of other experiences, then each new instance is pretty much exactly like us? And death is indeed a relief because the instance that does die stops suffering?

Tell that to the one that's experienced torture for a subjective amount of time that's equivalent to a thousand times the amount of time between the big bang and the heat death of the universe

It's one of the very, very few plausible "immortality would be a curse" scenarios out there, because "immortality" means forcibly experiencing things for a subjective amount of time that can be as big as it gets

Re: Make up a guy

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on your angle here? If you’re implying that humans are incapable of choosing not to procreate, that seems pretty obviously incorrect, given the vast numbers of people who make that choice. Am I interpreting your comment incorrectly?

It's pretty ironic to what DNA reached after billions of years: writing a Wikipedia article on antinatalism. > the vast numbers of people who make that choice Something tells me that this is going to hmmm... auto-regulate in no time. (reaches for popcorn)

>Something tells me that this is going to hmmm... auto-regulate in no time.

That voice misleads you. There are things that can be altered via evolution, and many that aren't - or over such a timescale that it practically doesn't matter. For another example, take a look at the topic of suicide. If it would work in the way that this evil little voice implies, we wouldn't even have heard about a single case.

Another angle to consider is not taking everything at face value, and also separating the contemplation of something from agreeing or supporting it. There's something to be gained from exposing oneself to a wide variety of topics, thoughts and experiences, no matter how outlandish they seem at first. And you'll find that you are free to distance yourself from the undesirable thing, exactly as free as before. But if it leaves a mark, you can learn something new, which can't happen without the experience.

Re: Make up a guy

#173

Speaking of making a person.. at this startup I worked at years ago (before LinkedIn existed), it was a tiny shop and we were all maxed out time-wise. It was frustrating when we had to deal with incredibly persistent salespeople that wouldn't take no for an answer, and others that preyed on our time relentlessly for no apparent reason. So as a joke we invented a fake employee with a fake name. I think his first name…

I wonder if this is going to change with time. Most people of a certain age remember a time when answering the phone and talking to the other person was a social more. This is the social courtesy that telemarketers and scammers have been using for years now. But there's another way. Just hang up on them. I know it's considered hostile but it's just an outdated social more at this point.

I heard a fascinating idea somewhere... hang out while you are in mid-sentence.

Re: Make up a guy

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty ironic to what DNA reached after billions of years: writing a Wikipedia article on antinatalism. > the vast numbers of people who make that choice Something tells me that this is going to hmmm... auto-regulate in no time. (reaches for popcorn)

>Something tells me that this is going to hmmm... auto-regulate in no time. That voice misleads you. There are things that can be altered via evolution, and many that aren't - or over such a timescale that it practically doesn't matter. For another example, take a look at the topic of suicide. If it would work in the way that this evil little voice implies, we wouldn't even have heard about a single case. Another ang…

> separating the contemplation of something from agreeing or supporting it

I don't take life advice from people whom I don't trust; it's just too risky. If you have a strong broad argument up your sleeve, it might work better than the "evil" voice.

Yes, let's simply delete the evolution from the model, just leave the self-replication.

Re: Make up a guy

#175
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I try to find this balance between recognizing the humanity of everyone I interact with and not allowing this respect to be an attack vector. Over time, I have shifted more towards ignoring salesman in front of a store, not replying to messages and hanging up on a call as being things I'm okay with doing. I don't always give courteous attention anymore. I'm fine with giving nothing ("ghosting" as the kids say) and on…

You might like the book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. I found the book helpful to reframe disengaging with sales folks from: Before: "I'm acting uncharitably by not reciprocating attention." After: "I recognize this person is attempting to influence me. I'm choosing not to engage."

I read it when I was on a sales team. That period of my life may also have affected some of these beliefs...

Re: Make up a guy

#176
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny, I never knew of the formal philosophy of anti-natalsim (though, as a human, certainly familiar with the concept of never having existed). Yet, the very first thought experiment I had before deciding to have a child was to, in my head, have an answer for them if they ever asked me “why did you have me?” And make sure it was a really good answer. I do doubt many folks do this but I’d be willing to bet most…

Would you mind sharing your answer?

Not at all. In fact, she’s already asked us by the tender age of 6.

I think life is an amazing thing. A miracle. And it’s very special. For all the angst and fear that comes with life, there is so so much beauty. I wanted to share that with a person, a new person who would have the ability to see the world like I do (since we share genes, my hope is some of that comes along with it).

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