Is an 'advancement' an advance on an advance, part of the specialised language of a 'designed evolution' that will lead to the leimination of death so exponential growth of a population that is so large already that 'we' cannot muster the wit to distribute the most primitive necessities such as food and basic medicine? Or will the 'upgrades in ethical values' take care of this? Will these 'upgrades' be epiphenomenological emergent enhancements of the newly designed humanity, and automatic by-product of this exciting intelligent design? What is the status of representational contribution to the design of the 'ethical upgrades', if they are to be separate designs, from the presnt sunstandard e...

Is an 'advancement' an advance on an advance, part of the specialised language of a 'designed evolution' that will lead to the leimination of death so exponential growth of a population that is so large already that 'we' cannot muster the wit to distribute the most primitive necessities such as food and basic medicine? Or will the 'upgrades in ethical values' take care of this? Will these 'upgrades' be epiphenomenological emergent enhancements of the newly designed humanity, and automatic by-product of this exciting intelligent design? What is the status of representational contribution to the design of the 'ethical upgrades', if they are to be separate designs, from the presnt sunstandard ethical apparatus of the unevolved moral universe? I could go on and on, but since I would be using downgraded cognitive software based on Version 1 of conceptual analyses I shall merely await the necessary upgrades necessary to bring me up to speed. And hope I get them on the NHS.

abailart: These are all very serious riddles, I am not sure that here is the fittest medium to have such an exchange about them, but I will try.

'Life extension' will not become 'immortality' in one day, and certainly it does not cover all causes of death. It is a process that will take a few decades or more. Even when it will be available, not all humans will choose to extend their lives. The process of accommodation, I believe, will be gradual irrespective to availability, so exponential population explosion is not an immediate threat, as some claim to be the case. Moreover, we do not know if human beings with very long life span will choose to bring to the world as many children as we d...

abailart: These are all very serious riddles, I am not sure that here is the fittest medium to have such an exchange about them, but I will try.

'Life extension' will not become 'immortality' in one day, and certainly it does not cover all causes of death. It is a process that will take a few decades or more. Even when it will be available, not all humans will choose to extend their lives. The process of accommodation, I believe, will be gradual irrespective to availability, so exponential population explosion is not an immediate threat, as some claim to be the case. Moreover, we do not know if human beings with very long life span will choose to bring to the world as many children as we do. Additionally, it might be that extreme life extension will demand from an individual a change so radical (upload?), that very few indeed will take the option, and perhaps they will not need food and medicine the way we need today. There are many ifs, I know, but my point is that I would rather try to think and figure how is it going to be rather than automatically dismissing the option altogether. I hope we can agree on this.

As to your remarks on ethical upgrades, perhaps it did not sound right as I am not a native speaker of the English language. I believe that in the light of accelerating change mostly driven by technology, the future of human civilization critically depends on moral and ethical development. Otherwise, we will soon possess extremely powerful tools (as we already possess even today) without the means to choose if and how to use them. This can obviously lead to some of the dystopian scenarios of the future.

Cont': When I said 'ethical upgrade', I did not assert that it is only a question of science and technology. Neuroscience, evolutionary psychology and general behavioral science can help a lot, but there is certainly something extra needed. Perhaps it is the realization that as a civilization we must evolve or perish. I do not mean 'evolve' in the biological sense, not even in the technological sense, but something much deeper having to do with the fundamentals of our worldview and our understanding of our identity as intelligent beings. Whether such transformation will take place, I do not know, I try to stay optimistic even in the light of many facts to the contrary. I do believe in the p...

Cont': When I said 'ethical upgrade', I did not assert that it is only a question of science and technology. Neuroscience, evolutionary psychology and general behavioral science can help a lot, but there is certainly something extra needed. Perhaps it is the realization that as a civilization we must evolve or perish. I do not mean 'evolve' in the biological sense, not even in the technological sense, but something much deeper having to do with the fundamentals of our worldview and our understanding of our identity as intelligent beings. Whether such transformation will take place, I do not know, I try to stay optimistic even in the light of many facts to the contrary. I do believe in the possibility of the human to evolve on dimensions beyond the materialistic plane.

As to your last remark, we all share the same cognitive Version 1 give or take. Yet as versions go, I really hope version 1 is good enough to bring about version 2 while we still have the muscle.