The human mind, as we have stated earlier, is the most powerful conscious force we know. It is the only thing that changes things in context, and with a greater purpose. It took us, good or bad, to where we are today. While you may not be convinced in this brief passage I expect you will be both troubled and inspired before the full story unfolds.
Great and inquisitive minds have spent untold hours and huge amounts of energy (human and mechanical) trying to unravel why humans believe and what they believe. Until recently these efforts, though valuable, were often musings and exercises. Now they are developing purpose, import and evidence. As time goes on we will need to use our brain to make the most important decisions that have ever been made. Even as I write we are meeting some of the challenges and challengers. Cloning? We have cloned animals and we will, at some point, be able to clone humans. Should we? Where does my freedom end and yours begin? Can I, given the ability, create a copy of myself with no consciousness? An organ farm, growing perfect replicas of my now tired organs, ready to harvest at the peak of their youth? Why not? Who has the power to decide and why? Would this cloned livestock be a human? Would it have human rights? If it cannot think and talk, if it has no personality but a future supercomputer does, which has a right? If, as it may now seem eventually possible, we can live forever, should we? Can we decide for all the others yet to come that our existence is more important than theirs? Some day we may copy our consciousness to a computer, if we were inside that computer and then realized that, in fact, we could think, just as we do now, if we reside on some Metadrive and look out and saw, in fact see just as we do now, if our “computer self” felt in every way as we do now would that be us? Then, if it is us how would we react to the original, with the same memories up to the transfer but burdened by a decaying, resource devouring body? Would it be wrong to see that the original human form has needs far beyond a mere resident memory on the meta drive. A body that is creating ecological havoc and consuming enormous resources. Resources that could keep alive other more diverse animals. Will the time come that only one of these consciousnesses is appropriate for the sake of our planet? Questions for some very large coffee tables indeed. Questions that no doubt will be answered, one way or another. But how, and by whom? Will these eternal deciders be operating with the same cognitive equipment and beliefs as the decision makers of today? In a society that cannot make effective, rapid decisions about bus schedules, is there a way to make decisions that cannot be wrong.
Until now we could allow cognitive noise. Our belief systems create a sort of milieu and havoc in the decision making process. From this we get what is often called “the political reality.” Which, may, in fact have been our only reasonable choice. But can we allow belief systems based on largely psychological and neurological factors to make decisions for everyone that will ever exist, and in fact decide if any others will exist at all. An even more troubling question, are you willing to let someone else’s' beliefs dictate these choices. Beliefs that are above or separate from conversation. Beliefs based on rationalizations such as "I just know its right" or "It’s the right idea”, or “I can't tell you how I know, I just know". There may be some willing to gamble the eternal fate of humanity on such mythological whimsy, it would, on the other hand be odd if they turned out to be the asteroid to the human dinosaur. [Although, in this case, there may never be another student to marvel over the fact.]
Imagine.
For more see attached word or txt file titled "Belief one"
