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hypothetically speaking, what would you do if you were only person on


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#1 brokenportal

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Posted 26 July 2008 - 09:59 PM


Hypothetically speaking, of course, if you were the only person on the planet, and there were no animals, and you didnt have to eat or sleep and you didnt have any sex drive, and you were to live forever, and you had all the tech and industrial resources available today, then what do you think your goals in life would be?

I am going somewhere with this.









I posted the above topic at my blog and its been getting a lot of response so I thought Ide post it here and see what you all think.
http://blog.myspace....i...&indicate=1

#2 VictorBjoerk

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Posted 26 July 2008 - 10:20 PM

Explore space of course? but first enjoy hobbies on earth like riding rollercoasters and going to the beach etc....

#3 lunarsolarpower

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Posted 26 July 2008 - 10:37 PM

Let there be light...

Oh wait, this is a different story ;)

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#4 brokenportal

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Posted 26 July 2008 - 10:45 PM

Explore space of course? but first enjoy hobbies on earth like riding rollercoasters and going to the beach etc....



But with those things listed that satiate you not there, wouldnt it be easier to just die?

#5 forever freedom

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 03:22 AM

Hm i would probably have fun with a lot of stuff until i eventually got tired of it (considering that the technology wouldn't be advancing, which would make things eventually boring). Then i would study and research until i create human-level AIs to make me some company. I would probably also program them so that they consider me the master, but i'm not sure on that... probably it would eventually get boring.

#6 cyborgdreamer

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 03:37 AM

I'd clone myself so I could have some company.

#7 niner

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 03:52 AM

Well, it'll be interesting to see exactly where you're going with it. Humans are social animals; we don't do that well without other humans. Pets could be a big help, but there's no pets either. Porn would presumably exist, but no sex drive... But we're going to live forever. So does this mean that we're immortal in the classic sense of the word? Like can I ride a mountain bike off the Empire State Building and walk away unscathed? How about pain? Would I need to scour the earth looking for disasters that were brewing because all the humans disappeared, and figure out how to fix them? Really, the way this thought experiment is set up is kind of like asking if we were going to be tortured for eternity, would we kill ourselves.

I suppose that I would make my way to somewhere on earth that was beautiful and the climate suited me. Then I would surround myself with beauty and create art for art's sake. Like sam988, I might try to develop an advanced AI, so the world would be interesting. I would collect some really awesome cars, bikes, and other toys. The more I think about it, it seems like the only point in the long run is connecting with other intelligences, with all the drama that entails. The options would seem to be three: Meditate a lot and try to attain a connection with the infinite. Build a really good AI and set off my own personal singularity. Make contact with Aliens. I don't think the odds are very good on the third, so I'd probably work on the first two. I'd have a lot of time to spend on it.

#8 VictorBjoerk

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 08:14 AM

Seriously,it would be horrible to have no human or animal to communicate with....

#9 brokenportal

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 08:53 AM

Would there be enough reason to continue on, and what might that be? Would the absence of the satiation you get from socialization and sex drive and people and stuff be of greater burden to you than the rest of what you have offers you?

#10 brokenportal

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 09:03 AM

Well, it'll be interesting to see exactly where you're going with it. Humans are social animals; we don't do that well without other humans. Pets could be a big help, but there's no pets either. Porn would presumably exist, but no sex drive... But we're going to live forever. So does this mean that we're immortal in the classic sense of the word? Like can I ride a mountain bike off the Empire State Building and walk away unscathed? How about pain? Would I need to scour the earth looking for disasters that were brewing because all the humans disappeared, and figure out how to fix them? Really, the way this thought experiment is set up is kind of like asking if we were going to be tortured for eternity, would we kill ourselves.

I suppose that I would make my way to somewhere on earth that was beautiful and the climate suited me. Then I would surround myself with beauty and create art for art's sake. Like sam988, I might try to develop an advanced AI, so the world would be interesting. I would collect some really awesome cars, bikes, and other toys. The more I think about it, it seems like the only point in the long run is connecting with other intelligences, with all the drama that entails. The options would seem to be three: Meditate a lot and try to attain a connection with the infinite. Build a really good AI and set off my own personal singularity. Make contact with Aliens. I don't think the odds are very good on the third, so I'd probably work on the first two. I'd have a lot of time to spend on it.


Well, Im asking it this way in part to get the focus more toward the what your goals, if any, in that situation would be. But let me just throw in there also that in this hypothetical situation you dont get that deep crappy feeling of being alone. You sense and recognize the being alone part and what it entails, but not with those daggery emotions.

As for immortal in the classic sense no, in the indefinite life span sense. As for scouring for disasters no, I threw the tech and industry in there to skip the part where people would say they would work on developing industry and technology.

So you say stuff like finding intelligence out there, and trying to create the singularity and the meditation and art and stuff, what reasons would there be for doing that? I mean, Im not saying there wouldnt be any, Im just wondering what you think they may or may not be.

#11 forever freedom

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Posted 06 August 2008 - 09:06 PM

So you say stuff like finding intelligence out there, and trying to create the singularity and the meditation and art and stuff, what reasons would there be for doing that? I mean, Im not saying there wouldnt be any, Im just wondering what you think they may or may not be.



I think that ultimately, the reason is to satisfy our natural needs. We would need to have fun in some way, we would need to keep ourselves busy with something, we would need to have expectations, goals, ambitions, this sort of stuff. Our behaviour in this scenario of yours would be dictated by these needs, as it has always been.

#12 solbanger

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Posted 06 August 2008 - 11:21 PM

Would there be enough reason to continue on, and what might that be? Would the absence of the satiation you get from socialization and sex drive and people and stuff be of greater burden to you than the rest of what you have offers you?


Depends. In this model do you remember once having a sex drive? Knowing the taste of foods? Speaking with people? Even remember what it's like to relieve oneself? Or are you just a mind sprung out of the mist fully formed without those qualities to begin with?

If you have experience with satiation, and all the tech available to you on the planet, you could easily engineer your senses back with partners to use them on and also germinate a bunch of pokemon on the planet to create a playful ecosystem. To make it really interesting you could install true chaos back into your world. Of course then there's the risk of the god playing swords without his armor.

#13 HereInTheHole

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Posted 07 August 2008 - 06:03 PM

I'd still go to work every day. I like my cubicle so much. Hi, boss!

#14 HereInTheHole

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Posted 07 August 2008 - 06:18 PM

But seriously, the question is a good one. It seems friviolous at first. But I think the answer says a lot about us.

After goofing off for a century, creating people of some kind would be essential. Everything would seem pointless or boring or too difficult after a while without them. (Although once I created them, I'd probably regret it.) Since our needs would be provided for, and since we'd live forever, and since I'd create intelligent people (using myself as stock, of course), the newbies would probably be less fearful than modern humans. So we could experiment with politics, science, anything.

My goal then would be to act as a foster parent for a world more wonderful and interesting than any heaven ever imagined.

Edited by NarrativiumX, 07 August 2008 - 06:26 PM.


#15 brokenportal

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Posted 08 November 2008 - 09:54 PM

Anyways, I forgot to get back to the point on this. The point is that most people think that chattering around and playing a little basket ball and raising some kids and working at a job for 50 years and then dying is a good full life. And we all like that stuff and its great and all, but that completly misses the big point of what it means to exist.

What we have here is an infinite mystery that we can hardly begin to fathom. There are megolithic mind blowing things that have been uncovered, and even more megolithic mind blowing things out there yet to be discovered on ever growing scales. To want to know those things is an even greater reason to want to live than the various things that people would commonly list as things that are interesting to live for.

I think people know this but are blinded to it by the pro aging trance. So I used this topic to try to coax it out of people. Even life extensionists are still subject to remnants of the pro aging trance, myself included.

Here is the list of things that it seems to me are over whelming miraculous gracious chances weve all been granted as reasons to want to live.

The big 8 reasons to want to live.

#16 thughes

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Posted 10 November 2008 - 04:37 AM

If you base your reason to want to live solely on discovery, you're gonna be awfully bored a few billion years hence when we finally know it all, with our super-enhanced brains.

To me, its not just curiosity and understanding, its society, companionship, art, and things like that that make any length of life worth living.

In answer to your question I'd clone people. Its hard to build a good society without many other people. Anything else would be strictly secondary. Society first, science after (since I'd be immortal anyhow). Science is so much more fun with people to share your excitement.

Art gives you an infinite amount of combinations to discover... especially since our brains will likely never be infinite, so we can re-discover some joys over and over. Whee. Get bored of this universe? Well people can create near infinite varieties to experience in VR.

- Tracy

Edited by thughes, 10 November 2008 - 04:39 AM.


#17 niner

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Posted 10 November 2008 - 05:16 AM

Art gives you an infinite amount of combinations to discover... especially since our brains will likely never be infinite, so we can re-discover some joys over and over. Whee. Get bored of this universe? Well people can create near infinite varieties to experience in VR.

This made me think of the joy of discovery, and how as we get older, we become somewhat jaded. We can sometimes catch a glimpse of the awe of childhood while tripping, as an example, but even that gets old pretty fast. What if we could erase our brains through some chemical (or other) process? It would be like starting out as a baby again. Kind of a big step, I know. You would first need to arrange for something like parents and schools. It would be great for people who suffer from bad programming, but it could also be fun for people who had "see it all". You could fall head over heels in love with Hannah Montana, or the girl next door, and it would be pure and real. Uncontaminated. Ideally you'd want to have the right body to go along with it.

#18 Cyberbrain

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Posted 10 November 2008 - 07:03 AM

If I had all the tech and industrial resources available today, I'd either go into space or jump start a new civilization (make biorobots, or androids, AI, clones, etc).

But the scenario seems a bit unlikely. If I were immortal, then logically wouldn't I be in a world with far advanced technology (since you said "had all the tech and industrial resources available today"). :)

I'D NEVER GIVE INTO DEATH!

#19 brokenportal

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Posted 10 November 2008 - 07:27 AM

Ide never give into death either. Reading through this stuff got me to thinking about it this way:

Imagine the precursors of organic matter floating around before life came into being. Imagine that they just continued to float there and never were able, or never chanced to, or cared or bothered to get around to forming organic matter, and that they never eventually became us. What if that’s how it was for “us”?

What if we are in a similar role as those precursors? That we are destined to create something much bigger and better than us, but that not creating life extension and pioneering the universe stifles that and we don’t create it? That would be like the precursors to organic material not creating us. What would that be like?

The universe and existence, to know it and pioneer it is not only an amazing grace and chance, its almost our duty. Id dare to say that it is our duty, and Im sure that there are a lot of people around here that already agree with this and probably already thought something along these lines.. There is more for us out there, being completely paralyzed in a dark cave and then dying is not all there is to life. What we have so far is like that, compared to the rest of what is out there for us.

So hence the solemn gravity of the situation requires reciprocating action. Onward and upward, the stars patiently wait for our wits to grow sharper. (to quote Kevin Perot and Edin Philpotts) So get active for life extension now because the destiny of the universe is not going to wait around for us and help negotiate for our graves to let us stay out a little longer. Pm some people and collaborate. Join the second book making, help plan the upcoming conferences, join the mfuri volunteer team. If your having trouble figuring out something to do or help with then heres a good place to jump in: imminst.org/meetings

#20 Korimyr the Rat

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Posted 03 December 2008 - 05:37 AM

Humans are social animals, and I am no exception. Unless I belong to a family or a tribe, there is no purpose in my continued existence-- and with no other humans, or transhumans, or even some other sapient species for me to associate with, there is no means by which I could reestablish meaning.

At that point, I kill myself and hope to find people of some sort on the other side.

#21 brokenportal

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Posted 03 December 2008 - 05:50 AM

Part of the point is that there is so much more to existence than socializing, and yet that is most all that most people place all of their emphasis on. I figured that most people would say something like that there is nothing else to do really. Contrast that with just how rediculous that seems in the face of something like the big 8.

Thats not to say that socializing isnt great though. Its just not the begin all and end all mystery and thing to do and be concerned with as a blob of matter imbued with a window into existence, 5 ways to sense it and the ability to manipulate it ever increasingly at will.

#22 Korimyr the Rat

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Posted 03 December 2008 - 07:09 AM

Part of the point is that there is so much more to existence than socializing, and yet that is most all that most people place all of their emphasis on. I figured that most people would say something like that there is nothing else to do really. Contrast that with just how rediculous that seems in the face of something like the big 8.


That's the thing... there is no point to your big 8 without someone else to share it with. No point to any of that knowledge when you are going to spend eternity alone. No point in accomplishing anything, when there is noone else to benefit from or even comment upon your work, except to give yourself something to stave off the inevitable madness of being alone in the entire universe.

#23 brokenportal

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Posted 03 December 2008 - 07:26 AM

That seems awfully short sighted to me, and a dangerous perception, as it effects all other views, but I could be wrong of course.

Ok, to you and anybody interested, what if it were you and one other person.

#24 brokenportal

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Posted 03 December 2008 - 07:29 AM

That seems awfully short sighted to me, and a dangerous perception, as it effects all other views, but I could be wrong of course.

Ok, to you and anybody interested, what if it were you and one other person.

#25 Heliotrope

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Posted 03 December 2008 - 07:53 AM

That seems awfully short sighted to me, and a dangerous perception, as it effects all other views, but I could be wrong of course.

Ok, to you and anybody interested, what if it were you and one other person.



depends on the other person. if female, then dependsd on what's her rxn to me. if good rxn, then think about repopulating earth, like adam and eve, but have to be genetically careful in selecting off-spring, and may want to find ways to screen the genes and do the "desinger baby" thing, have to be careful othe dangers of "incest" in children, like homozygous diseases since they'd be close in genes.

if male, become friends (a tiny chance may be enemies, but to avoid eternal boredom & lack of human company, unlikely), and rebuild the world, learn robotics and AI etc, and explore space. Learn everything, increase technology, singularity, friendly AGI

Edited by HYP86, 03 December 2008 - 07:57 AM.


#26 Korimyr the Rat

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Posted 03 December 2008 - 08:46 AM

Ok, to you and anybody interested, what if it were you and one other person.


Well, I hate to keep "missing the point" of your thought experiment, but one other person does not a society make. I doubt I would even be able to follow HYP86's advice, on setting about to repopulate, except that I would probably feel some sense of duty to do so.

Given that I've already answered, I'll try again. If it is myself alone, or myself and one other person, with all of the knowledge and tools I could want-- even if I had to build them myself-- then my first task would be to create other sentient life; I could survive, even as a lonely god, if I had at least that much of a place in society. Assuming there were chimpanzees left, I might try uplifting them without genetic interference, to test some of my current theories about the development of society and the evolution of humanity. Or I might terraform a couple of planets and experiment with different sentient species designs. Might even try recreating humanity, and scattering it across the galaxy; it would be fun to see them try to figure out how they evolved concurrently on different worlds.

Would probably also dedicate considerable time to spiritual exercises, and see if I couldn't eventually leave this plane of existence and explore Yggrdrasil's branches. Go bother the gods awhile, if they weren't also missing and/or upset with me over what happened to the rest of my species. See how much I could learn to affect my surroundings without tools.

Of course, with another person involved, I am certain that we could use all of the technology at our disposal to come up with some truly elaborate games.

#27 Crepulance

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Posted 03 December 2008 - 03:05 PM

I think the most important question would be. Would there be TV? :)



Crep

#28 Crepulance

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Posted 03 December 2008 - 03:07 PM

Is it the only person on earth because of a catastrophe and everyone else was killed or dissapeared? In otherwords, does he have knowledge of a once existing human race or family, or is he essentially transplanted onto an evacuated earth with all of it's technology etc in tact?


Crep

#29 Crepulance

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Posted 03 December 2008 - 03:12 PM

The more I think about it. The better the question it is. I think there's only one word I can come up with as an answer to your question. Transcend.



Crep

#30 erzebet

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Posted 18 August 2009 - 05:26 PM

if i was the only human left and no animal would exist anymore i would first think of a solution to feed myself:) presuming that no plants are left either

then i would go on with my hobbies - i would have all libraries in the world- well sending me in a library is like sending an alcoholic in a wine shop:)
i would still build robots, i would drive all sorts of vehicles and i would swim all day!




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