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**DONOTDELETE**
Guest
Superbob: this is how I approach this matter...
A sentient mind is self-programming computer. Genes only build the hardware. Improving that hardware will increase processing speed and storage capacity. Software is not in the computer. It cannot be hardcoded in genes. Genes make the "machine" capable of learning. They set limits, but never decide what it learns. Software comes from the evironment, the human society, in the form of experiences and education, and is further processed, filtered and altered by each individual.
That is why society and education are more important that genes. Genes will see to themselves. Messing with our own genes is something we should avoid, because we are not responsible and experienced enough to change ourselves. We can engineer new strains of industrial microbes, but that is far from responsible decisions regarding ourselves. Therefore we better leave our genes alone, except when medical assistance is needed to prevent illness or injury.
Society on the other hand becomes more and more important. Functioning societies ensure that our civilisation does not destroy itself (and already for some time, it has to power to accomplish that). Society needs attention and care. Technology is important becuse our existence on this planet is not sustainable. Unless we discover new ways to produce and maintain, we will pillage the ecosystem beyond the point of no repair. Genes can wait a thousand years, a million years. Society and technology cannot wait.
If you improve the hardware of a human mind and neglect its software, the result will be DOS 2.2 on a Shadow supercomputer. The result will be devastating. You will have a civilisation which is smart, but not wise. Very powerful but self-destructive.
To reiterate my point: the human nature is not, and has never been governed by genes. Our software comes from the environment, is characteristic of all sentient creatures regardless of genes, and lives a life of its own.
A sentient mind is self-programming computer. Genes only build the hardware. Improving that hardware will increase processing speed and storage capacity. Software is not in the computer. It cannot be hardcoded in genes. Genes make the "machine" capable of learning. They set limits, but never decide what it learns. Software comes from the evironment, the human society, in the form of experiences and education, and is further processed, filtered and altered by each individual.
That is why society and education are more important that genes. Genes will see to themselves. Messing with our own genes is something we should avoid, because we are not responsible and experienced enough to change ourselves. We can engineer new strains of industrial microbes, but that is far from responsible decisions regarding ourselves. Therefore we better leave our genes alone, except when medical assistance is needed to prevent illness or injury.
Society on the other hand becomes more and more important. Functioning societies ensure that our civilisation does not destroy itself (and already for some time, it has to power to accomplish that). Society needs attention and care. Technology is important becuse our existence on this planet is not sustainable. Unless we discover new ways to produce and maintain, we will pillage the ecosystem beyond the point of no repair. Genes can wait a thousand years, a million years. Society and technology cannot wait.
If you improve the hardware of a human mind and neglect its software, the result will be DOS 2.2 on a Shadow supercomputer. The result will be devastating. You will have a civilisation which is smart, but not wise. Very powerful but self-destructive.
To reiterate my point: the human nature is not, and has never been governed by genes. Our software comes from the environment, is characteristic of all sentient creatures regardless of genes, and lives a life of its own.
