Thank you for posting these; I appreciate that people (the quoters) generate such thoughts and questions and discussions, and that other people excellently accumulate these things and spread them (this substack).
What quirk of evolution caused us to develop the ability to do pure mathematics? Being better at pattern recognition is evolutionarily advantageous, so minds evolved to be better pattern recognizers. Math involves lots of pattern recognition.
Given the nature of life, the purposeless indifference of the universe, and our complete lack of free will, how is it that most people avoid ever being clinically depressed? Art/creativity. Music does it for me.
Are accurate mathematical theories of individual human behavior possible? Will a comprehensive mathematics of human behavior ever be created? I doubt it.
Can general-purpose computers be constructed out of pure gravity? Not even wrong.
Is the universe like an onion that will require science to keep peeling back new layers of reality and asking questions forever? Could be.
Is the number of interesting questions finite or not? Infinite. But - countably infinite?
Is the brain a computer or an antenna? Neither.
Will it ever be possible to download the information stored in the human brain? I had a college roommate who said he intended to do this. It's theoretically possible, but I doubt it's possible in practice.
What does the conscious mind do that is impossible for the unconscious mind? I doubt we'll ever know.
Would you like to live 1,000 years? Only with continued good health.
Will we soon cease to care whether we are experiencing normal, augmented, or virtual reality? I think there are some folks who are already there.
Why is religion still around in the twenty-first century? Because it fills a common human need.
Can we ever wean humans off their addiction to religion? No, same reason.
Was agriculture a wrong turn for civilization? There are definitely trade-offs.
What will we do as an encore once we manage to develop technological solutions to infection, aging, poverty, asteroids, and heat death of the universe? I doubt we will find a technological solution to the heat death of the universe.
What is the most intelligent and efficient way to minimize the overall amount of conscious suffering in the universe? The repugnant conclusion - kill all sentient beings and there is no suffering.
Is the actual all that is possible? No, artists create.
"When will "human being" cease to be a meaningful category to speak of?" - i think about this one a LOT
Thank you for posting these; I appreciate that people (the quoters) generate such thoughts and questions and discussions, and that other people excellently accumulate these things and spread them (this substack).
More semi-final answers.
What quirk of evolution caused us to develop the ability to do pure mathematics? Being better at pattern recognition is evolutionarily advantageous, so minds evolved to be better pattern recognizers. Math involves lots of pattern recognition.
Given the nature of life, the purposeless indifference of the universe, and our complete lack of free will, how is it that most people avoid ever being clinically depressed? Art/creativity. Music does it for me.
Are accurate mathematical theories of individual human behavior possible? Will a comprehensive mathematics of human behavior ever be created? I doubt it.
Can general-purpose computers be constructed out of pure gravity? Not even wrong.
Is the universe like an onion that will require science to keep peeling back new layers of reality and asking questions forever? Could be.
Is the number of interesting questions finite or not? Infinite. But - countably infinite?
Is the brain a computer or an antenna? Neither.
Will it ever be possible to download the information stored in the human brain? I had a college roommate who said he intended to do this. It's theoretically possible, but I doubt it's possible in practice.
What does the conscious mind do that is impossible for the unconscious mind? I doubt we'll ever know.
Would you like to live 1,000 years? Only with continued good health.
Will we soon cease to care whether we are experiencing normal, augmented, or virtual reality? I think there are some folks who are already there.
Why is religion still around in the twenty-first century? Because it fills a common human need.
Can we ever wean humans off their addiction to religion? No, same reason.
Was agriculture a wrong turn for civilization? There are definitely trade-offs.
What will we do as an encore once we manage to develop technological solutions to infection, aging, poverty, asteroids, and heat death of the universe? I doubt we will find a technological solution to the heat death of the universe.
What is the most intelligent and efficient way to minimize the overall amount of conscious suffering in the universe? The repugnant conclusion - kill all sentient beings and there is no suffering.
Is the actual all that is possible? No, artists create.