The Grossest Solipsism
I just watched Christopher Hitchens on BookTV on a panel for the LATimes concerning religion. As usual, he was very entertaining. He pointed out that all religions are arrogant and so require believers to proselytize. This is certainly true of Transhumanism. I wouldn't mind if Kurzweil practiced his faith in the privacy of his own home, but he is traveling around the country pushing it to a mostly gullible public.
Hitchens referred to religion as the grossest solipsism as it requires believers to think that the Universe was designed for them; an astonishing claim. Believers in the Singularity share this solipsism but in my opinion they are worse because they think they are being scientific. It is borderline psychotic to think that our entire Universe was leading up to the evolution of mankind and that we will instigate a cosmic process whereby the Universe will be transformed into a giant computer. How anyone can delude themselves into believing this nonsense is beyond me.
Hitchens referred to religion as the grossest solipsism as it requires believers to think that the Universe was designed for them; an astonishing claim. Believers in the Singularity share this solipsism but in my opinion they are worse because they think they are being scientific. It is borderline psychotic to think that our entire Universe was leading up to the evolution of mankind and that we will instigate a cosmic process whereby the Universe will be transformed into a giant computer. How anyone can delude themselves into believing this nonsense is beyond me.
Most transhumanists do not believe that the whole universe was leading up to mankind all along. Only Kurzweil does. How many times do I need to keep saying it? If you took a poll of transhumanists that asked, "do you think the universe was leading up to humanity all along, and that our emergence was inevitable", the majority would answer NO.
Reply to this
Michael; Then Kurzweil is better educated than most Transhumanists. He obviously understands the physics of cosmology and the spiritual implications of general relativity. Funny isn’t it! You are saying the standard transhumanist lacks the imagination to understand block time and modern cosmology, just like laLancett.
Many great thinkers have come to the conclusion that this universe is a creative strange loop motivated by life. “Universes boot up” Try to formulate the implications. Science and religion will converge on this point. But, Like the workers on the tower of Babylon You two are kicking the same archetype around in confusion.
Reply to this