Why are the technocrats (karp, naval, bj) all transhumanists? Why dont they have faith in biological essentialism as in the least conservative version of it with only the preservation of mind? The synthesis of a single unit of universal intelligence is a much harder and ambiguous bet than the intersection of a few specialized systems (think nanobots, epigenetics, reg-med, cyborg). All these paths could potentially intertwine but why do they want to take biological consciousness just that one step further? They say they don’t fear but considering the potential of “accidents” invalidates their “belief.” It’s either a personal fear or a national fear. It would be more comforting for me to think they are at war with China rather than their thanatophobia, for the former makes them slightly more altruistic, and the latter a more questionable, brute-force mentality that contradicts the engineering principles of historical technocrats. Engineers are here to solve complex problems, not invest in more data centers and anticipate for singularity, if there even would be one. Entropy does exist regardless of biological essentialism and/or/nor transhumanism because even machines and electricity have a half life. Why don’t we bet on something that has more ground?
we know that the path to agi (convergence of capabilities) is the opposite of the lbc industry (divergence of concentration). just structurally speaking one can argue the former doesnt enable the latter directly.
going back to entropy. i dont think extension is the end. it’s a means to an end. and that end is purely subjective. they can be as small as self actualization or as big as cosmological omniscience. the point im trying to make is, perhaps all of this can be achieved with more clarity, and this goal only serves as a foundation that gives you an option. and that’s all i ask for.