In early 1993, I visited with Professor Ed Posner on the campus of Caltech. He had agreed to be my research advisor when I started graduate school there in the fall. About a month before my first semester started, however, I was notified that he had been killed while commuting on his bicycle by a drunk driver in a truck.
I think I heard that his graduate student was killed in an automobile accident a half a year later. Within my extended family, I know that one of my brothers-in-law lost a sister to an automobile accident. Mike Perry, whom I have mentioned a number of times in this weblog, was killed earlier this month by an automobile accident while commuting on foot.
In a previous weblog entry, I noted that the probability of being killed in an automobile accident is about one percent. Even if the probability of dying on a single round trip is less than one in one million, the cumulative probability can easily reach that one percent mark after half a century of school and work. The recent death of Mike was a reminder to me that the safest commute is the telecommute.
For my annual update to my Optihumanist Principles, I made changes to a couple of the sections. In the "Life is limitless" section where I wrote "We welcome the propagation of life throughout the Universe", I changed "life" to "sapient life". Initially I had wanted to change it to "sentient life" -- but then I learned the difference.
My "Optimism is effort" section is now "Progress is perpetual". I wanted to retain the idea that effort is required to make things better over time while incorporating my thoughts from my previous blog entry Evolution as Purpose, including Perry's concept of the "divine attractor". Here is the new final section as updated for 2025:
Progress is perpetual.
We hold that the purpose of evolved life is to evolve.
We embrace continuous improvement as a path toward divinity.
We applaud incremental growth.
Previously I concluded that the purpose of life is to reproduce. Thinking about artificial intelligence and uploading has put a spin on that for me. I suppose it is possible in the future that there could be a sentient being that achieves immortality by not dying rather than by having children.
Today my eleven-year-old son asked me whether a mosquito is alive. When I asked what he meant, he clarified by asking whether it is conscious. No, I replied, it is too small for that; it is just like a robot following the instructions of a computer program. That answer made him chuckle.
If we could snapshot a mind and instantiate a copy as a chatbot, would it be alive? Suppose further that it could not learn but only respond to prompts in a manner similar to the original based on knowledge acquired prior to the snapshot. Effectively it would be an interactive memoir.
To me this seems more like a ghost than a living being. If instead it could continue to learn, I would then say that the copy is a continuation of the original. Perhaps the hypothetical snapshot process could capture both the memories and the mechanisms for forming new memories.
The fact that we have goals is a byproduct of evolution driving us to survive long enough to propagate our genes. Even if they can no longer pass on their genes, sentient beings uploaded from evolved life snapshots might continue to evolve in
the sense that could adapt over time to their changing environments in
responsive pursuit of their goals. For both the originals and their uploaded snapshots, I conclude that the purpose of evolved life is to evolve.
Fyodorov was a Christian who proposed that we should all work together to use future science-based technologies to resurrect our ancestors for the purpose of saving them from Judgment Day. Fyodorov's Universal Salvation reminded me of the Mormon practice of proxy baptism. It also helped me connect the dots with the renaming of the Transhumanist Church to the Society for Universal Immortalism.
W. Scott Badger, Ph.D,
is the author of the research paper "An Exploratory Survey Examining
the Familiarity with and Attitudes toward Cryonic Preservation"
published in the 1999 Q1
issue of the Alcor magazine "Cryonics". About two decades ago, he and I
were discussing the possibility of a Cryonics Community website. I
registered a domain name back then for that purpose.
Today I finally got around to launching a website using that domain name CryonicsCommunity.org.
The website includes a link to a Google Groups discussion mailing
list. Please join the list if you want to help shape the future of the
Cryonics Community website.
I
think what we originally envisioned for the website was a forum where
cryonauts associated with any cryonics organization could come together
to discuss the topic. I see that need being met today by the Cryosphere
server on Discord. I also know that there has been some discussion on
the Cryosphere about forming local Meetup groups for face-to-face
meetings.
I
think the new website could instead focus on a different kind of
"Cryonics Community". R. Michael Perry, Ph.D, is the author of the
article "A Look Back: Attempts to Establish a Cryonics Community" in the
2021 Q2
issue of "Cryonics". Dr. Perry documents previous efforts to create
places where cryonauts could live together to maximize their chances of a
successful suspension.
These
communities could include retirement homes where members could check on
each other daily such as at mealtimes. Nearby there could be a
cryonics suspension and storage service, a hospice, and maybe even a transhumanist church. Ideally the communities would also be in places where cryothanasia is legal.
To support these efforts, the website could list local Meetup groups
where those interested in forming such a community could connect.
Another idea is that website members could opt into a service in which
other members would check on them if they suddenly stop logging in.
Online job listings could encourage migration.
Eventually
the website might evolve into a non-profit corporation. The mission of
the non-profit might include encouraging the growth of related
for-profit ventures such as real estate development and monitoring services. A goal might be to establish a cryonics community in every
major metropolitan area.
The day before my trip to Alcor in Phoenix a week or so ago, I spotted Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition at Half-Price Books. It turned out to be an appropriate choice for reading on the flight as it documents the early history of Cryonics in an entertaining style. I had the chance to say hello to Hugh Hixon and Mike Perry, both mentioned in the book, while I was there touring Alcor.
I also finished up Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion. Although written by a different author, it could be the sequel to the Great Mambo Chicken book, picking up the story of the progress of the Immortalists some thirteen years later. I was pleased to see that it included an interview of my friend from the Humanist FellowshipRandy Wicker. I recommend both of these books to anyone interested in Cryonics, Extropianism, Transhumanism, and, of course, Optihumanism.
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