In a fascinating interview with Kris Notaro at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, Rutgers Professor Katalin Balog discusses some of the most fascinating philosophical issues related to the study of consciousness.
Leaving aside the crucial Brave New World argument, Balog nevertheless touches upon an issue that I find is also of critical importance for the discussion of the ethical desirability of transhuman immortality:
Aside from these issues about the desirability of immortality there is a larger perspective from which the very desire for immortality is questionable – irrespective of whether eternal life would be a good thing. The idea can be found in virtually all the religious traditions of the world including the most ancient, shamanic traditions; it is, to put it very succinctly, that striving itself is the source of suffering. The mentality, by now utterly dominant in the developed parts of the world, of seeking control and power in every sphere, of not putting up with any disruptions in the smooth routines of our lives (“Elevator doesn’t work? Unacceptable!”) is itself the problem. We are terrified of our vulnerability and impermanence and try to overcome it by increasing our power and efficiency. But in doing so, we lose connection to a deeper sense of ourselves. Our world, instead of a living presence, becomes an object to manipulate. You can get around if you are carried in a litter, or drive a car or plane but you are not going to make contact with the ground. It takes the fun out of things when you look at them merely instrumentally as we often do. The same thing applies to our own minds. If you give up striving, say these traditions, you’ll finally get to know yourself. Of course, the point is not to stop doing anything and drop dead. There is a middle way I suppose that steers between the extremes of asceticism and high-powered striving. So, yes, I’d like to live forever. But I shouldn’t allow my life to be driven by this wish.
“If you give up striving, say these traditions, you’ll finally get to know yourself.”
That’s the very key insight I gained during my Year of Nothing. And if that’s any guide, my two cents to these discussion would be that the insight is impossible to grasp from just reflecting upon the concept of non-striving. You have to live the process somehow, truly disconnect from striving, if not for a whole year as I did, for long enough for you to arrive at a spontaneous aha! moment that is perhaps impossible to achieve otherwise.
Hat tip: David Pearce.
