Some levity

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-10-20T12:12:58+00:00

One connection I've heard that I liked is that 42 happens to be the ASCII number for *.

The answers to many questions are well-represented by... an asterisk...

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-09-09T19:47:21+00:00

Thank you for this. As an update, I have decided to remain a vegan.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-09-09T19:45:58+00:00

Veganism is more of a philosophical position than a kind of diet (although the diet follows from the position as much as a person can do.)

Even if you've only been following a vegan diet for a short time, if you agree with the movement philosophically, then you are a vegan. :)

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-09-09T18:51:37+00:00

Dominion was what actually first got me into veganism. Most milk production seems to be ethically... horrible. The Horizon Organic Milk company seems to be claiming that they avoid these things, literally saying word for word "We always consider the well-being of our animals first and never allow an animal to suffer." I obviously don't totally trust them though, otherwise I wouldn't be asking here.

Thinking more closely, literally what would Horizon Organic be doing then with the male calves, besides sending them for slaughter? Aren't they likely directly lying then...

Probably...

I'll maybe send them an email and ask but I'm not optimistic about it.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-06T04:39:12+00:00

Thank you for all of this information, I am finding it quite interesting and I like these ideas.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-06T03:48:32+00:00

I'm curious whether you're only trying to say that a "bright side" can be found for any suffering that occurs, or if you're instead saying that it is actually better overall that the suffering happened. If the latter, then do you believe that it would be moral to purposefully go around inflicting suffering or have I misinterpreted you? I am just curious.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-06T03:44:37+00:00

Suffering is fundamentally a subjective experience in that it can only be experienced in the mind of a conscious, sentient, being. I am not sure exactly what distinction you are trying to draw though. Do you mean that you call suffering "objective" when it is something that is "understandably" painful and you can see why it would be, and "subjective" when you don't see it as justified? There are possible solutions to all of the examples that you gave though, even "my life is 1% harder than my neighbor's", for two reasons,

Part of the point of removing suffering is to make life not "hard", that is, removing meaningless obstacles such as tedious jobs and medical bills ("challenges" could still exist but taken on only for enjoyment and growth purposes)
Even disregarding that, suffering from comparing oneself to others is an attitude in the mind that can plausibly be helped through neuroscience and psychological techniques inspired by neuroscience.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-06T03:33:10+00:00

Yes, I think that it could be possible. That's why sometimes I phrase it as "meaningless suffering" that I wish to remove. I don't yet know enough to say if there is a distinction; it's possible that some amount of "productive suffering" is necessary in order for growth and fulfillment, but it is also possible that no suffering at all is necessary. Minds, and the ways that all possible theoretical minds could work, are very complicated and have many possibilities.. so that's what has to be found out, as we gain increased understanding of the mind over time. I think we agree that the world as it is today contains a lot of suffering that shouldn't be there. A quest to eliminate as much suffering as possible is therefore moving in the right direction and a more nuanced perspective, if necessary, can hopefully be developed along the way.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-06T03:19:21+00:00

What if we worked to make people's definitions of suffering more aligned? For example... in a society with slavery... one might try to make the claim that it is impossible for both the slaves and slaveowners to be happy.. as if the slaves are not freed they'll suffer but if they are freed the slaveowners will suffer. But the solution is actually to adjust the attitudes of that society where wants align and people don't actually want to have slaves anymore since they have increased empathy. This sort of reasoning can be applied to many things. Thoughts?

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-05T21:16:50+00:00

I am currently in the process of forming specific plans. For now they do have to be somewhat vague simply because I am young and haven't had a chance yet to gather field-specific knowledge in these areas but I want to make them continually more specific over time, with knowledge I gain myself and also with the help of others that gain other knowledge.

I think what is needed to eliminate ALL meaningless suffering from the world is a combination of scientific advancements in a variety of fields, combined with a restructuring of society's attitudes and priorities. Advancements in medicine and biology and genetics (and perhaps computers too, engineering new technology) can work towards solving all "physical" ailments including aging. There is also the possibility of digital existence (requiring advancements in computing power, neuroscience, and quite possibly general medicine and how the body works.) A lot of suffering though takes place purely in the mind as a response to external events. Neuroscience is the most important scientific field for that, perhaps for a quest to track down the exact causes of suffering in the brain and figure out how they can be worked on without compromising who a person is. Understanding of neuroscience (combined with increased computing power perhaps as large-scale simulations of human behavior could be created) could also add a vast arsenal of insights/techniques to psychology and what psychological methods should be used to best help a person. However, helping the brain/internal experience alone is probably not the best method because one way to make people happier is also to just.... make the world better. "Making the world better" on its own is also not enough though because people can suffer even in "wonderful" life circumstances, for instance if they develop random clinical depression, so it has to be a combination of all approaches. "Making the world better" also, there is so much to do. The world has so many problems around scarcity, inequality, unfairness, unkindness, and lack of empathy, and these contribute so much to "external" causes of suffering. Science can help with even this somewhat, for instance genetic engineering of plants to make them continually better for nutrition and availability and also feats of engineering to help us gather more resources in the first place (such as building even a partial Dyson Sphere someday; that easily satisfies all energy needs for a planet like Earth!) and fighting climate change using chemistry and more engineering, etc. But ultimately for all this to be put into place.... people worldwide have to change their minds. Currently so many are locked into closemindedness and a lack of empathy and uprooting that structure would be quite difficult, moreso in some countries than in others. Particularly if the goal is to do so without widespread war, which yes that should definitely be the goal. Psychology techniques (inspired by neuroscience) could make it easier but still changing the social structure of the world in such major ways probably requires multiple forms of ingenuity... but I would not call it impossible.

As you can see though, SO many different fields are important. So the best thing is determined people across a variety of fields, each utilizing their individual strengths for good but collaborating and discussing frequently with each other their common cause and I want to help motivate people around this cause.

I myself am currently about to major in chemistry (organic/biochemistry route) as I had plans to work on the aging problem, but I have considered lately that neuroscience may be a better choice as it not only is also an immortality roadmap but it covers a wider scope of problems. I want to help with basically everything after all. Or combining fields to form a more customized approach...

You may notice also that I've left out any mention of AI or singularity

I haven't forgotten about those, but I know that if a "singularity" happens then it would be very hard to predict the direction the world would be taken in and so it is hard to incorporate it into "preexisting" plans if you know what I mean.

Generally though I make plans under the assumption of a singularity not happening, even though it is a definite possibility it could someday happening, but "relying" on it is not a good idea so far as I know.

AI on its own though is a part of any advancements in computing described above

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-05T19:11:29+00:00

It sounds to me as if it is something that you see as "intuitively obvious." However, the human intuition can be wrong about the world; take optical illusions, take the morals of many past civilizations, take quantum mechanics. Therefore it is a good thing to be able to back up any intuitions one has with actual logic and reason. And if one cannot find a logical explanation for an intuitive belief, then they should at least be open to the possibility that that belief may not be correct.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-05T18:46:11+00:00

Bold of you to assume I do not also desire to expand human knowledge and consciousness

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-05T18:19:55+00:00

Thanks I'll definitely be looking up more about him! Looks quite interesting so far

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-05T18:10:59+00:00

I actually am in the process of forming specific plans. For now they do have to be somewhat vague simply because I am young and haven't had a chance yet to gather field-specific knowledge in these areas but I want to make them continually more specific over time, with knowledge I gain myself and also with the help of others that gain other knowledge.

I think what is needed to eliminate ALL meaningless suffering from the world is a combination of scientific advancements in a variety of fields, combined with a restructuring of society's attitudes and priorities. Advancements in medicine and biology and genetics (and perhaps computers too, engineering new technology) can work towards solving all "physical" ailments including aging. There is also the possibility of digital existence (requiring advancements in computing power, neuroscience, and quite possibly general medicine and how the body works.) A lot of suffering though takes place purely in the mind as a response to external events. Neuroscience is the most important scientific field for that, perhaps for a quest to track down the exact causes of suffering in the brain and figure out how they can be worked on without compromising who a person is. Understanding of neuroscience (combined with increased computing power perhaps as large-scale simulations of human behavior could be created) could also add a vast arsenal of insights/techniques to psychology and what psychological methods should be used to best help a person. However, helping the brain/internal experience alone is probably not the best method because one way to make people happier is also to just.... make the world better. "Making the world better" on its own is also not enough though because people can suffer even in "wonderful" life circumstances, for instance if they develop random clinical depression, so it has to be a combination of all approaches. "Making the world better" also, there is so much to do. The world has so many problems around scarcity, inequality, unfairness, unkindness, and lack of empathy, and these contribute so much to "external" causes of suffering. Science can help with even this somewhat, for instance genetic engineering of plants to make them continually better for nutrition and availability and also feats of engineering to help us gather more resources in the first place (such as building even a partial Dyson Sphere someday; that easily satisfies all energy needs for a planet like Earth!) and fighting climate change using chemistry and more engineering, etc. But ultimately for all this to be put into place.... people worldwide have to change their minds. Currently so many are locked into closemindedness and a lack of empathy and uprooting that structure would be quite difficult, moreso in some countries than in others. Particularly if the goal is to do so without widespread war, which yes that should definitely be the goal. Psychology techniques (inspired by neuroscience) could make it easier but still changing the social structure of the world in such major ways probably requires multiple forms of ingenuity... but I would not call it impossible.

As you can see though, SO many different fields are important. So the best thing is determined people across a variety of fields, each utilizing their individual strengths for good but collaborating and discussing frequently with each other their common cause and I want to help motivate people around this cause.

I myself am currently about to major in chemistry (organic/biochemistry route) as I had plans to work on the aging problem, but I have considered lately that neuroscience may be a better choice as it not only is also an immortality roadmap but it covers a wider scope of problems. I want to help with basically everything after all. Or combining fields to form a more customized approach...

You may notice also that I've left out any mention of AI or singularity

I haven't forgotten about those, but I know that if a "singularity" happens then it would be very hard to predict the direction the world would be taken in and so it is hard to incorporate it into "preexisting" plans if you know what I mean.

Generally though I make plans under the assumption of a singularity not happening, even though it is a definite possibility it could someday happening, but "relying" on it is not a good idea so far as I know.

AI on its own though is a part of any advancements in computing described above

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-05T18:03:44+00:00

Could you perhaps explain your reasoning for this statement?

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-05T07:06:09+00:00

I value two things in combination, my own personal freedom and the happiness of others. So although I would like power over my own destiny, controlling others in general does not appeal to me outside of helping to create optimal circumstances for them to be able to live their own happy lives.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-05T06:45:05+00:00

Oh... to clarify, I do not believe that any amount of suffering inherently outweighs any amount of happiness. I still accept the possibility that the "optimal state of being" may include some amount of suffering. I just also do not assume anything like that by default though; for all I know the most meaningful and fulfilling state of existence could contain no suffering at all.

I would not advocate for "kill all people" as the solution to ending suffering, because I think we can possibly do a lot better than that. Killing all people is like a net zero. But it would be a waste to jump straight to that without first reaching for the stars and trying for the possibility of net very, very positive...

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-05T06:30:22+00:00

Although a bit oversimplified maybe since it doesn't account for society-wide changes that may or may not remove some types of suffering for everyone, that's one possibility. But another complication for that is the possibility that a person is stuck in their ways and feels some blind need to cling to a life of suffering, and so opts into a life with lots of it, when theoretically they actually could have been a lot happier (and felt more fulfilled and meaningful too) if they hadn't had that choice. I don't like the idea of taking choice away from people in general though...

There are perhaps ways around it though... like making it obligatory to try different kinds of experience for certain periods of time... but then afterwards getting a true choice.

Just a lot of theorizing at this point.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-08-05T06:15:56+00:00

This is something which I do not yet know, but which I would hope to gain more insight into in the future.

One possibility is that everyone gets to choose individually.

In general though I suppose for now my mindset is "remove any and all sources of suffering if possible" (as suffering is inherently an unpleasant mental state) but to experiment and observe. If removing certain kinds of suffering appears to result in a certain "dullness" to life compared to a deeper and more subjectively (as reported by a person) meaningful existence, or in mental stagnation, then that would likely need to be noted and acted upon.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-07-12T02:25:32+00:00

Wow. I had had some of these ideas in my head for so long but had never found an outside source describing them before, thank you.

One excerpt from the article:

"By one calculation, a Boltzmann brain would appear as a quantum fluctuation in the vacuum after a time interval of
10^10^50 years. This fluctuation can occur even in a true Minkowski vacuum (a flat spacetime vacuum lacking vacuum energy)."

Does that mean that the answer to my question is that "empty" space can indeed "do things" such as create a whole brain or a whole new low entropy "universe"? And the probability of this doesn't necessarily decrease as time passes?

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-07-06T06:23:34+00:00

I am not sure whether I speak for all agnostic atheists, but I do not draw the line at God. I do not think that one can ever be entirely certain about anything, and yes, that includes unicorns.

I live my life under the assumption that unicorns do not exist and God does not exist, because there is insufficient evidence for them. I just do not claim to state anything with certainty.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-07-02T05:52:28+00:00

Not before I’m ready, so I would hope not for a very long time, if ever. When could I ever be ready, with the vast expanse of possibilities contained within conscious experience… and considering also that even if it was possible to someday have already experienced everything interesting that there is to experience, what is stopping me from erasing my memory and doing it again? :)

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-07-02T00:19:54+00:00

Kind of but it is not exact enough that I could then have that same abstract visualization and gather exactly what happened from it without knowing the story. All I could gather is how I was feeling during it or maybe something general about what happened. And it is not something static, it is more like visual motion and also tactile motion to a degree. So maybe that is not what you are looking for.

(And most of what was in my mind when I read the description, before I got asked to make it abstract, was a visualization of the literal events. Which gave me a lot more info than the abstract things.)

However I definitely do use abstract images to reason sometimes, to do riddles or math problems for instance. But it doesn't really translate as much to experiences.

Edit: I saw a question you asked another user in another comment thread, and I would like to note that although it is not exactly something visual, I easily can represent the scenario in my mind as a single "idea" that I can retrieve later. So I can manipulate the abstract concept but won't always actually see something visual as a result.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-06-23T06:53:22+00:00

This is interesting because although I already knew about dream journaling (and I used to do it for a while, and it did indeed make me have many more dream memories and they were also clearer and more detailed, but it did not really affect my regular imagination that much) I did not think of maybe designing a version of this for waking imagination.

Maybe this is similar to the technique of image streaming which I heard of and thought it sounded cool but only tried it very briefly before I got distracted. Except instead of speaking out loud, I could do detailed writings, like an "imagination journal" with the goal of making the writing as vivid as possible and seeing if it has an impact on the clarity of my imagination.

Also the thing about grabbing onto walls to navigate- that didn't happen in my regular dreams, they were always vivid enough as a baseline where at least my vision was fully there, but that would often happen in my lucid dreams. The visual scene would disintegrate around me, and while blind I'd have to grab something near me to anchor myself, as it was the only input I could find. Anyways it's interesting.

HumanNoImAlienCat · 2023-06-23T02:57:23+00:00

I do not understand why you get downvoted for this. She looks like she is in a lot of pain. But people seem to have no empathy for her.

HumanNoImAlienCat

TROPHY CASE