catbrie...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> "Perfection" is nothing more than a Platonic abstraction. Even if we
> were "the best people we could be", whatever that means, we could
never
> measure up to that Platonic ideal - because it doesn't exist except
in
> our minds.
What if the best people we could be would be smart enough to
implement exactly what exists in our minds?
Even if what exists in our minds at the moment does not amount
to real "perfection," let's say we can imagine someone who is
somewhat better than we are, just enough to formulate the proper
concept of "perfection." Then that person could work toward
implementing it.
As long as technological progress "ratchets" forward (that is,
once someone figures out some new trick, others can use the
trick and they don't lose it), is there any problem that cannot
eventually be solved? That is, other than problems that would
require violating natural laws.
When you think about the imperfections we have, which of them
would require violating natural laws to solve them?
> We live in a beautiful, chaotic, grubby world of perfect imperfection
In what sense is the current imperfection around and within us
"perfect"?
If you believe your imperfections are "perfect," does that mean
you don't try to hide them by wearing cosmetics?
> and it will always be so,
Always? Please give an example of some human imperfection whose
elimination would violate some law of nature.
As far as I can tell, humans are diverse, and for almost every
undesirable trait you can think of, there is at least one
human alive who doesn't have a bad case of that trait at the moment.
Those people untouched by some particular imperfection prove
that it is possible for humans not to have that particular
problem. So it's just a matter of finding out how their molecules
differ from the victims' molecules, and then how to make the
appropriate adjustments.
> but still this impossible ideal haunts us.
It's evolution baby. A species is diverse, and some of its
members happen to be better-adapted to their environment
than others. Everybody wants to win the competition.
Besides, we have mirrors.
-- the Danimal
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