Dear Ancestors-to-be of Future-Generations-to-come,
Let us continue to reflect on how we might best employ genetic, medical and other technological developments, assuming that they do eventually come about and:
In such cases, can these developments, so scary if falling into the wrong hands, bring about many hoped for positive developments in human society if employed instead by gentle, ethical and humane hands?
The following begins with brief reflections on whether we might call such technological developments a kind of "good Karma" (avoiding technological "bad Karma" and harmful effects) which we are passing on to future generations.
Next, the essay briefly outlines some positive changes which might happen in society if, for example, people are less apt to fall into extremes of unmoderated raging anger commonly resulting in angry violence, and instead are led to enhanced drives toward charity and empathy. It is also true that changes in outside society ... the content of the media we see, the lessons taught in schools to developing children, the environments of the homes in which those children are raised ... all work to create the adults that those children become, each rendering us more or less prone to violence and other harmful tendencies. At the same time, many of our current, animalistic biological traits and tendencies seem to be working in negative ways in society, to encourage violence in media (because of the thrill its viewing brings to so many of us), violence in our schools and in many of our homes. In turn, my book posits that changes to the biological proclivities toward violence and the like within the genetic make-up of human beings will work more effectively to change our media, schools and home environments. In fact, both inner changes and outer reinforcements of those changes, hand in hand, are needed to effectively remake society for the better.
My book states:
... [If this technology is coming and cannot be stopped,] it is vital that the necessary technology be mastered and employed by the good guys, the folks in the ‘white hats,’ those of us who will use it well, before the ‘black hat’ bad guys take over the town. As with every potentially mis-usable discovery or device throughout human history, it is vitally important who gets their hands on it first. The “white hats” need to head the villains off at the pass! I feel we have no choice, for if we stick our heads in the sand, the robber barons, generalissimos, despots and other villains will just have their way.
If we think of future H-ASB (hybrid-artificial sentient beings) and our other biological creations/children as our “future lives” down the road, then our actions in these prior generations before their birth have Karmic effects, for good and bad, helping to determine who they will someday be. If someone believes in literal rebirth into future lives then, perhaps, that rebirth might someday be as a cyborg or other engineered sentient life. We are determining our future incarnations or, at least (if less literal about ‘rebirth’), our biological legacies and remainders. Thus, if we take this technology as unavoidable, and are tasked to develop or design good qualities within humans (because the alternative of doing nothing and leaving matters to the less well-meaning is so much worse), and to set the stage for better after-humans in the future, it would serve us well to nurture within those generations various Buddhist and equivalent gentle, humane values in order to counter the greed, violence and divisions that have plagued world history to date.
For the first time in human society, rather than merely preaching virtue or threatening hellfires, terrible rebirths and/or prison cells to the wicked, we might have an actual means to instill virtues by physically uploading and inserting virtues directly into hearts and minds. Why preach and threaten, when our better angels might instead be found in our better natures? In fact, it is not only so regarding our coming biological creations: Our robots, AI inventions, drones and other mechanical and automated creations should be fashioned to maintain ethical standards which are peaceful and good. We need to get some Dharma in our drones, motherly love on our motherboards, Precepts into our programs!
Of course, good chromosomes and better brains or data bits alone will not make good and better beings and bots, any more than being born today with muscles allowing above average speed, dexterity and strength makes an Olympic athlete. Years of effort, practice and coaching are also required. Natural musical abilities mean little without continued music lessons and familial encouragement of such talents. Gifts by themselves are not sufficient if left undeveloped in education and training. Schools, families, media and other societal institutions should all work together to bring out the best in our children, because their increased propensity to be gentle, kind, caring and peaceful will wither on the vine unless properly nurtured and tended. Even data gathering, machine learning digital programs must be put through their paces in the field, becoming skilled by experience.
It is my hope, however, that modified, increased and re-focused drives within our psyches encouraging us toward greater gentleness, kindness, caring, etc., will cause us to create school curricula, family environments, media content and the rest which are also gentler, kinder, more peaceful and the rest, in much the same way that current human nature is reflected in today’s schools, families and media, and the modern problems we find there. If, for example, people come to internally feel heightened levels of intense physical disgust when witnessing scenes of bloody violence, and more powerful joy and pleasure when presented with moments of charity and cooperation, the values taught in schools, the atmosphere children experience in families, and the content of entertainment and news reports presented in the media will tend to emphasize the avoidance of violence, and the encouragement of charity and cooperation. Human values and social institutions are mutually formed. Each will influence, encourage and nurture the other.
It is hard to imagine, for example, movies celebrating shootings, beatings and battlefield explosions when the paying audience is left physically ill at the mere sight. Will there be many families in which children are beaten if potentially abusive parents are no longer mentally prone to raging anger, and instead, are sickened at the very thought? How many schools will there be where disciplinary issues interfere with daily study if the student body’s bodies are disposed to be gentler, more cooperative in nature, more focused and able to concentrate, and smarter? In fact, our theatres will be filled with tales of good deeds and humanitarian heroes, rather than violent scenes and war heroes, if the ticket buying public demands, feeling the same level of pleasure in witnessing kittens saved from trees as now felt in witnessing gladiators battle to the death. It is merely a matter of neurologically rewiring what brings thrills and physical joy, or aversion and disgust.
That being the case, if we are to develop or design caring, gentle, charitable, peaceful humans or after-humans in the future, we will need some notion of “ideal caring, gentle, charitable, peaceful beings” with beneficial qualities and values as inspiration:
The Buddhas and Great Bodhisattvas would serve well as ideals toward which we aim, just as they have since long ago. ...
... (to be continued) ...
Gassho, J
stlah
PS - With all due respect to our Tibetan and other more traditional Buddhist brethren, these two explanations (by Dr. Thurman, who obviously had good genes to be both a Columbia University professor and actress Uma's father
) and a Tibetan Rimpoche make little sense to me, seem premised on questionable pseudo-scientific premises and assumptions, and misunderstandings of biology and more ... together with a paucity of evidence to support such ideas.
We can nourish charity and other good within us, and also leave influences on future generations, both social and genetic, but an actual "spiritual gene" that forms the brain, hands and the rest?? Hmmm.
And I am with the following fellow for about the first 2 minutes 30 seconds ... and I do personally entertain the possibility that our "consciousness" is somehow a more basic phenomenon of the universe that is more than just the physical brain (which physical brain may possibly tap into or isolate that more basic phenomenon, in much the same way that our bodily cells make use of the principles of matter and energy to perform various functions ... the jury is still out on this "hard problem" of the origin of human consciousness ... ) ... but I am rather skeptical of much of the following, which seems not supported by the evidence he tries to present. Hmmmm.
Let us continue to reflect on how we might best employ genetic, medical and other technological developments, assuming that they do eventually come about and:
(1) are inevitable and coming anyway, cannot be halted, cannot be ignored;
(2) have a high chance of being misused by bad actors unless we use them in beneficial ways;
(3) can be shown to be effective and safe to use; and
(4) can be introduced in an ethical way respectful of individual free choice, civil and human rights ...
(2) have a high chance of being misused by bad actors unless we use them in beneficial ways;
(3) can be shown to be effective and safe to use; and
(4) can be introduced in an ethical way respectful of individual free choice, civil and human rights ...
In such cases, can these developments, so scary if falling into the wrong hands, bring about many hoped for positive developments in human society if employed instead by gentle, ethical and humane hands?
The following begins with brief reflections on whether we might call such technological developments a kind of "good Karma" (avoiding technological "bad Karma" and harmful effects) which we are passing on to future generations.
Next, the essay briefly outlines some positive changes which might happen in society if, for example, people are less apt to fall into extremes of unmoderated raging anger commonly resulting in angry violence, and instead are led to enhanced drives toward charity and empathy. It is also true that changes in outside society ... the content of the media we see, the lessons taught in schools to developing children, the environments of the homes in which those children are raised ... all work to create the adults that those children become, each rendering us more or less prone to violence and other harmful tendencies. At the same time, many of our current, animalistic biological traits and tendencies seem to be working in negative ways in society, to encourage violence in media (because of the thrill its viewing brings to so many of us), violence in our schools and in many of our homes. In turn, my book posits that changes to the biological proclivities toward violence and the like within the genetic make-up of human beings will work more effectively to change our media, schools and home environments. In fact, both inner changes and outer reinforcements of those changes, hand in hand, are needed to effectively remake society for the better.
My book states:
~ ~ ~
... [If this technology is coming and cannot be stopped,] it is vital that the necessary technology be mastered and employed by the good guys, the folks in the ‘white hats,’ those of us who will use it well, before the ‘black hat’ bad guys take over the town. As with every potentially mis-usable discovery or device throughout human history, it is vitally important who gets their hands on it first. The “white hats” need to head the villains off at the pass! I feel we have no choice, for if we stick our heads in the sand, the robber barons, generalissimos, despots and other villains will just have their way.
If we think of future H-ASB (hybrid-artificial sentient beings) and our other biological creations/children as our “future lives” down the road, then our actions in these prior generations before their birth have Karmic effects, for good and bad, helping to determine who they will someday be. If someone believes in literal rebirth into future lives then, perhaps, that rebirth might someday be as a cyborg or other engineered sentient life. We are determining our future incarnations or, at least (if less literal about ‘rebirth’), our biological legacies and remainders. Thus, if we take this technology as unavoidable, and are tasked to develop or design good qualities within humans (because the alternative of doing nothing and leaving matters to the less well-meaning is so much worse), and to set the stage for better after-humans in the future, it would serve us well to nurture within those generations various Buddhist and equivalent gentle, humane values in order to counter the greed, violence and divisions that have plagued world history to date.
For the first time in human society, rather than merely preaching virtue or threatening hellfires, terrible rebirths and/or prison cells to the wicked, we might have an actual means to instill virtues by physically uploading and inserting virtues directly into hearts and minds. Why preach and threaten, when our better angels might instead be found in our better natures? In fact, it is not only so regarding our coming biological creations: Our robots, AI inventions, drones and other mechanical and automated creations should be fashioned to maintain ethical standards which are peaceful and good. We need to get some Dharma in our drones, motherly love on our motherboards, Precepts into our programs!
Of course, good chromosomes and better brains or data bits alone will not make good and better beings and bots, any more than being born today with muscles allowing above average speed, dexterity and strength makes an Olympic athlete. Years of effort, practice and coaching are also required. Natural musical abilities mean little without continued music lessons and familial encouragement of such talents. Gifts by themselves are not sufficient if left undeveloped in education and training. Schools, families, media and other societal institutions should all work together to bring out the best in our children, because their increased propensity to be gentle, kind, caring and peaceful will wither on the vine unless properly nurtured and tended. Even data gathering, machine learning digital programs must be put through their paces in the field, becoming skilled by experience.
It is my hope, however, that modified, increased and re-focused drives within our psyches encouraging us toward greater gentleness, kindness, caring, etc., will cause us to create school curricula, family environments, media content and the rest which are also gentler, kinder, more peaceful and the rest, in much the same way that current human nature is reflected in today’s schools, families and media, and the modern problems we find there. If, for example, people come to internally feel heightened levels of intense physical disgust when witnessing scenes of bloody violence, and more powerful joy and pleasure when presented with moments of charity and cooperation, the values taught in schools, the atmosphere children experience in families, and the content of entertainment and news reports presented in the media will tend to emphasize the avoidance of violence, and the encouragement of charity and cooperation. Human values and social institutions are mutually formed. Each will influence, encourage and nurture the other.
It is hard to imagine, for example, movies celebrating shootings, beatings and battlefield explosions when the paying audience is left physically ill at the mere sight. Will there be many families in which children are beaten if potentially abusive parents are no longer mentally prone to raging anger, and instead, are sickened at the very thought? How many schools will there be where disciplinary issues interfere with daily study if the student body’s bodies are disposed to be gentler, more cooperative in nature, more focused and able to concentrate, and smarter? In fact, our theatres will be filled with tales of good deeds and humanitarian heroes, rather than violent scenes and war heroes, if the ticket buying public demands, feeling the same level of pleasure in witnessing kittens saved from trees as now felt in witnessing gladiators battle to the death. It is merely a matter of neurologically rewiring what brings thrills and physical joy, or aversion and disgust.
That being the case, if we are to develop or design caring, gentle, charitable, peaceful humans or after-humans in the future, we will need some notion of “ideal caring, gentle, charitable, peaceful beings” with beneficial qualities and values as inspiration:
The Buddhas and Great Bodhisattvas would serve well as ideals toward which we aim, just as they have since long ago. ...
... (to be continued) ...
Gassho, J
stlah
PS - With all due respect to our Tibetan and other more traditional Buddhist brethren, these two explanations (by Dr. Thurman, who obviously had good genes to be both a Columbia University professor and actress Uma's father
) and a Tibetan Rimpoche make little sense to me, seem premised on questionable pseudo-scientific premises and assumptions, and misunderstandings of biology and more ... together with a paucity of evidence to support such ideas. We can nourish charity and other good within us, and also leave influences on future generations, both social and genetic, but an actual "spiritual gene" that forms the brain, hands and the rest?? Hmmm.
And I am with the following fellow for about the first 2 minutes 30 seconds ... and I do personally entertain the possibility that our "consciousness" is somehow a more basic phenomenon of the universe that is more than just the physical brain (which physical brain may possibly tap into or isolate that more basic phenomenon, in much the same way that our bodily cells make use of the principles of matter and energy to perform various functions ... the jury is still out on this "hard problem" of the origin of human consciousness ... ) ... but I am rather skeptical of much of the following, which seems not supported by the evidence he tries to present. Hmmmm.
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