Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Club for Open-Minded Discussion & Debate

[Raymond]

Why you think humanity is in its infancy? The Sun dies out in 5 billion years. Maybe space expansion has a grip on the galaxies then. What more can we learn about the cosmos than its fundamentals?

The biosphere is about 3,800 million years old.

Trilobites were one of the dominant species for over 250 million years.

Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for 200 million years.

Humans are about 2.5 million years old.

Homo sapiens are about 0.3 million years old.

Human agriculture is about 0.012 million years old.

Infancy.

As for life in the universe, I already mentioned the universe's young age as compared with its productive (by our standards) lifetime. It's approximately, and conservatively, in the first hundredth of its life. An infant.

Humans may not ever master interstellar distances, but I figure that somewhere and somewhen species will emerge that conquer space in ways perhaps not even dreamed of by science fiction writers. There is a ton of potential for advancement. If humanity fails to successfully expand into space then that would make us early "prototype", like 78 rpm records. Good while it lasted, but doomed. If humanity manages to solve some of the more difficult issues related to consciousness and space travel, then they could be some of the universe's great pioneers.

You think space travel is a sign of adulthood? Why? And why should one species be more intelligent than others?

[Sy Borg]

Why you think humanity is in its infancy? The Sun dies out in 5 billion years. Maybe space expansion has a grip on the galaxies then. What more can we learn about the cosmos than its fundamentals?

The biosphere is about 3,800 million years old.

Trilobites were one of the dominant species for over 250 million years.

Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for 200 million years.

Humans are about 2.5 million years old.

Homo sapiens are about 0.3 million years old.

Human agriculture is about 0.012 million years old.

Infancy.

As for life in the universe, I already mentioned the universe's young age as compared with its productive (by our standards) lifetime. It's approximately, and conservatively, in the first hundredth of its life. An infant.

Humans may not ever master interstellar distances, but I figure that somewhere and somewhen species will emerge that conquer space in ways perhaps not even dreamed of by science fiction writers. There is a ton of potential for advancement. If humanity fails to successfully expand into space then that would make us early "prototype", like 78 rpm records. Good while it lasted, but doomed. If humanity manages to solve some of the more difficult issues related to consciousness and space travel, then they could be some of the universe's great pioneers.

You think space travel is a sign of adulthood? Why? And why should one species be more intelligent than others?

Yes, the ability to go out and reproduce is generally seen as a sign of adulthood. Many do not believe it would be "reproduction" if the Earth sends informational packets of parts of itself with 3D printers that use the materials of other worlds to create copies of itself. That's because they think humans are special. It clearly is reproduction, though, but humanity/the Earth has not reached that level of development.

BTW, you did not address the information above which basically seals the deal that the universe and its life are in their infancy. Unless one believes in the Biblical Armageddon, of course.

[Raymond]

Don't we go out and reproduce yet? Is sending packages of parts of oneself (which parts do you mean? Genes?) to other worlds, along with 3D printers, a sign of maturity? Dunno. Indeed, what makes us special? There is a wide variety of living species, all with their own knowledge and intelligence. I've read in a thread here that people can live even with 2% of their brain! (The thread is closed but continued somewhere else, so it seemed). Will we be grown up when going to the stars only? What if you have found an answer to all questions? Here on Earth,?

[Sy Borg]

Indeed, what makes us special?

[Raymond]

Technique makes us special? We can't even build a virus. Technique is what will end the world. Every 10 years the number of planes doubles, economy has to grow (for reasons not clear to me, it's just stated as a law), and one speaks of using atom bombs. Sounds a bit like wishful thinking to leave the planet by means of toys that are the cause of the problems in the first place. Don't let them fool you with a piece of sophisticated toys.

[Sy Borg]

Technique makes us special? We can't even build a virus. Technique is what will end the world. Every 10 years the number of planes doubles, economy has to grow (for reasons not clear to me, it's just stated as a law), and one speaks of using atom bombs. Sounds a bit like wishful thinking to leave the planet by means of toys that are the cause of the problems in the first place. Don't let them fool you with a piece of sophisticated toys.

You asked what makes humans special, and I've not seen any other species send complex machines into space. What ultimately makes us special is that we can perceive the passing of time far more so than other species, with memory recall or future projections made at will.

Of course almost all people are staying on Earth. Almost. What leaves the planet to start new adventures on other world will be adapted to space travel, so they will have to be significantly different to us.

[Raymond]

Technique makes us special? We can't even build a virus. Technique is what will end the world. Every 10 years the number of planes doubles, economy has to grow (for reasons not clear to me, it's just stated as a law), and one speaks of using atom bombs. Sounds a bit like wishful thinking to leave the planet by means of toys that are the cause of the problems in the first place. Don't let them fool you with a piece of sophisticated toys.

You asked what makes humans special, and I've not seen any other species send complex machines into space. What ultimately makes us special is that we can perceive the passing of time far more so than other species, with memory recall or future projections made at will.

Of course almost all people are staying on Earth. Almost. What leaves the planet to start new adventures on other world will be adapted to space travel, so they will have to be significantly different to us.

What kind of adventures? Discovery, like the discovery voyages made during and after the Renaissance (Enlightenment)?

[Sy Borg]

Technique makes us special? We can't even build a virus. Technique is what will end the world. Every 10 years the number of planes doubles, economy has to grow (for reasons not clear to me, it's just stated as a law), and one speaks of using atom bombs. Sounds a bit like wishful thinking to leave the planet by means of toys that are the cause of the problems in the first place. Don't let them fool you with a piece of sophisticated toys.

You asked what makes humans special, and I've not seen any other species send complex machines into space. What ultimately makes us special is that we can perceive the passing of time far more so than other species, with memory recall or future projections made at will.

Of course almost all people are staying on Earth. Almost. What leaves the planet to start new adventures on other world will be adapted to space travel, so they will have to be significantly different to us.

What kind of adventures? Discovery, like the discovery voyages made during and after the Renaissance (Enlightenment)?

Life, my friend. Life is an adventure! I suppose death is too but it comes soon enough and requires no effort to achieve.

[Raymond]

Life is inevitable! But to make an adventure out of it we can safely stay on Earth, making sure it can be lived by all forms that can live. Why creating AI if NI is all around? And who knows, maybe AS is created along with AI...Can you guess what I mean by AS?

[LuckyR]

Technique makes us special? We can't even build a virus. Technique is what will end the world. Every 10 years the number of planes doubles, economy has to grow (for reasons not clear to me, it's just stated as a law), and one speaks of using atom bombs. Sounds a bit like wishful thinking to leave the planet by means of toys that are the cause of the problems in the first place. Don't let them fool you with a piece of sophisticated toys.

Special compared to whom?

[Raymond]

Technique makes us special? We can't even build a virus. Technique is what will end the world. Every 10 years the number of planes doubles, economy has to grow (for reasons not clear to me, it's just stated as a law), and one speaks of using atom bombs. Sounds a bit like wishful thinking to leave the planet by means of toys that are the cause of the problems in the first place. Don't let them fool you with a piece of sophisticated toys.

Special compared to whom?

Special as compared to other forms of life.

[Sy Borg]

Life is inevitable! But to make an adventure out of it we can safely stay on Earth, making sure it can be lived by all forms that can live. Why creating AI if NI is all around? And who knows, maybe AS is created along with AI...Can you guess what I mean by AS?

Yes, WE will remain on Earth. No company or government will see fit to spend billions sending nobodies off world. Personally, I'd rather stay here anyway. The Moon and Mars are deserts. Titan is full of explosives.

AS = Artificial Sentience?

[Raymond]

Life is inevitable! But to make an adventure out of it we can safely stay on Earth, making sure it can be lived by all forms that can live. Why creating AI if NI is all around? And who knows, maybe AS is created along with AI...Can you guess what I mean by AS?

Yes, WE will remain on Earth. No company or government will see fit to spend billions sending nobodies off world. Personally, I'd rather stay here anyway. The Moon and Mars are deserts. Titan is full of explosives.

AS = Artificial Sentience?

But why they should shoot something to other planets? Everything you can find there can be found here. Why not trying to keep things alive here, instead of **** things up up there.

AS=Artificial Stipudity, eeehh, Stupidity.

[LuckyR]

Technique makes us special? We can't even build a virus. Technique is what will end the world. Every 10 years the number of planes doubles, economy has to grow (for reasons not clear to me, it's just stated as a law), and one speaks of using atom bombs. Sounds a bit like wishful thinking to leave the planet by means of toys that are the cause of the problems in the first place. Don't let them fool you with a piece of sophisticated toys.

Special compared to whom?

Special as compared to other forms of life.

Do you mean known forms of life or theoretical forms of life?

[Raymond]

"Do you mean known forms of life or theoretical forms of life?"

All forms of life that were, are, and will be present in the process of natural evolution.

What do you mean with theoretical forms of life?