If you go even further back thousands of years, 2012 seems even more magical…I’m a young person in my 20′s and I can go online and join a grassroots group or sign a petition that can save people on the other side of the planet…this was just a fantasy a couple of years ago, and when you consider my age, this is even more incredible.

Never take anything for granted — our world, indeed, is more peaceful and healthier then ever, despite the saturated negative press we hear every.single.day. We are always striving for a better tomorrow, but aside from the future, their is no better time then the present….it’s silly to romanticize the past too much, despite that being what the media often does.

I know this seems weird to believe, but when you wrap your head around it…it does have some sense to it — I guess I’m just sick of the pessimism that’s so rampant today; it seems like everyone is on edge and thinking their is going to be this religious apocolypse right around the corner….It’s truly rare to find genuine optimists who, perhaps sound a bit rose-colored, but at least seem to appreciate how fortunate and incredible it is to be living in 2012…and we must never take that for granted.

However, we can’t live without a purpose, so we must find ourselves our goal. And that goal, we will need to believe in it (although, this doesn’t mean that our goals, won’t be able to be changed) and not accept it because it’s told by Nature. As Carl Sagan said, “we are the custodians of life’s meaning” We can fairly call this a new religion, or non-Gods-based belief-system (or alternativelly one based on Gods, but we being the Gods, lol). Actually, the old religions were like this, just unconsciously so.

Furthermore, I think this fundamental limitation comes from Gödel’s theorem result: if we want to keep consistent (i.e., keep logical/use science), we won’t have all the answers; and if we want all the answers (including what’s right/wrong), we can’t use logic.

Two videos to illuminate this moral issues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8P1Y1a7-L4 (If you haven’t watched it already)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFTM1FU4Xd4

We all have our own ways of looking at things; this is normal…but when the ability to help and enhance the overall quality of life is inhibited, their is something to be noticed there….and you’d have to be a very detached person to inhibit, what is essentially aid, and still believe you are doing the right thing.

I doubt that the future will be some sort a Utopian fantasy, but if we were all immediately transported there now, we may think that it was. And that’s good enough for me. :-)

The post-Singularity world will neither be Heaven nor Hell; merely a giant leap forward and we will have to contend with it…the same way we live in this world with NBC threats; with thousands of nuclear weapons that could obliterate us several times over…we will live in a world where everyone is empowered in God-like ways…the ability to create and live in both harmony and chaos will take the next step and we will have to contend with this.

Again though….this is only my own understanding of Ray Kurzweil’s vision, so bare that in mind.

Again, in Kurzweil’s vision, the post-Singularity world will be neither utoptian or dystopian – merely a new status quo with, what he tried to get across, hopefully a set of fundamental beliefs that people should follow to reflect the new world around them (hence his use of the word “religion”)…indeed, it feels inevitable considering the vast changes that will occur; even then of course, people still will be people with their thoughts, feelings, viewpoints and so on, so these practices, while generally agreed upon, may not reflect how EVERYBODY feels completely…many religions, while having the same sort of beliefs like no murder and so on, all differ in their own ways, even if, again, the morals are often essentially the same.

Again, I think this conversation is just about semantics — if the future happens as Kurzweil says, then people will continue to be people and their will continue to be new challenges, dangers, issues and so on…it won’t necessarily be Heaven, merely going further down that road just as we have been up till now — their will be have a new set of fundamental beliefs (hence “religion”) at some point as part of adapting/transcending, just as most people tend to agree on the same moral values, but people will continue to be people with their own thoughts and feelings on subjects.

Obviously, I’m not speaking for Ray Kurzweil, but I think this is what he intended by his use of the word “religion”…though philosophy probably would have been a less contentious word to use.

Of course I prefere science over religion.I am not even religious.

But as you say, people have dreamed of wanting to become what one would call god-like for as long as we could remember….this isn’t bad – mastering your environment, making the best possible future for your children, striving for a better future….these are all sorts of basic things we have always strived for, and thus far, it’s made the world around us. it’s fine to be careful and cautious, but the principle of the thing…we are merely taking the next step.

It is a lie to say it is irrensponsible for us to dabble in the building blocks of life. This statement reeks of hypocrisy; do we truly not trust ourselves to such a degree that we believe that evolution’s random chance is superior to our own rational judgement? One thing it gave us that we appreciate is the very ability to appreciate; to tell the wheat from the chaff, the desirable from the unwanted. To figure out the flaws in our plans, and find how can they be implemented with most safeguards and minimum discomfort for all parties involved. There is no ‘do’ without ‘try’, and eventually someone will try anyway, regulations be damned. If we are truly willing to ensure no catastrophic outcume would take place, we must stop hiding behind mock ignorance. We deserve better.

Deus Ex put it right: it is within our nature to want to be gods. We might as well become good at it.

http://youtu.be/OdHLJ92aSto

I can’t tell you the answers to many big things right now, like what happens after you die…and I’m fine with that – I’m in the same boat as everybody else. Perhaps that sounds childish and naive, but I find it a better alternative then excessively rationalizing my beliefs into tricking myself that I know something I really don’t. Even if we can never found out, say, what happens after you die until that moment comes…again, it’s a better choice to simply admit you don’t know and make peace with that — it may sound too easy and naive, but I find it vastly more preferable…and I’m only ending up back where I started.

Procluding those whose religion forbids it, aren’t we all Transhumanists at heart? I mean, who doesn’t want to augment themselves with proven future tech? I suspect Transhumanists exist in far greater numbers than is generally accepted.

With regards to the issues above, politicians will eventually bow to the weight of public opinion no matter what their previous convictions or political allegiances (at least, those working within a democratic system will). The access to information that currently exists will surely nullify any propaganda or misinformation that can be spread. We are more able now, than at any point in history, to formulate values and opinions based on reliably sound information.

I hope that doesn’t sound naively optimistic. I truly believe we will embrace the future and that our overseers will have to do likewise.

Like what Ray says, this is exactly why I think that the “moral” ones won’t win out…because, in the face of people dying, the benefits will simply be too great to ignore — the problem is….how many people must suffer and die until that happens and people get it in their heads that such-actions, like transplants, are good things?