"Understand" -- One Vision of Human Evolutionary Potential
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Yesterday I finally ran across "Understand," a novelette by Ted Chiang. "Understand" features a character who has begun to self-evolve from normal intelligence levels, to genius, to far, far beyond the intellectual limits of any known human.
Given my own plans to engage in radical self-enhancement, the story of Chiang's main character is of more than academic interest to me, as it should be for anyone working to achieve a dramatic, self-directed leap forward in their personal evolution. Perhaps one of the issues this story puts in sharpest relief is the consequence of having only a select handful or an individual with capabilities vastly greater than those of humanity. At some point, only beings of similar intelligence "matter" in terms of being able to truly hinder or assist one another, and they have the ultimate veto power (and all other decision-making power) over the rest of our activities... So long as the rest of us allow such a tremendous gap to open up in terms of our relative capabilities and the talents of those at the highest levels of intellectual attainment.
Future Imperative
Yesterday I finally ran across "Understand," a novelette by Ted Chiang. "Understand" features a character who has begun to self-evolve from normal intelligence levels, to genius, to far, far beyond the intellectual limits of any known human.
Given my own plans to engage in radical self-enhancement, the story of Chiang's main character is of more than academic interest to me, as it should be for anyone working to achieve a dramatic, self-directed leap forward in their personal evolution. Perhaps one of the issues this story puts in sharpest relief is the consequence of having only a select handful or an individual with capabilities vastly greater than those of humanity. At some point, only beings of similar intelligence "matter" in terms of being able to truly hinder or assist one another, and they have the ultimate veto power (and all other decision-making power) over the rest of our activities... So long as the rest of us allow such a tremendous gap to open up in terms of our relative capabilities and the talents of those at the highest levels of intellectual attainment.
Future Imperative
posted by Ralph Cerchione | Sunday, February 04, 2007
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