Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
>
>
> Brent Meeker writes:
>
>> > In fact, if we could > reprogram our own minds at will, it would be
>> a very different world. > Suppose you were upset because you lost your
>> job. You might decide to > stay upset to the degree that it remains a
>> motivating factor to look for > other work, but not affect your sleep,
>> ability to experience pleasure, > etc. If you can't find work you
>> might decide to downgrade your > expectations, so that you are just as
>> content having less money or a > menial job, or just as content for
>> the next six months but then have the > motivation to look for
>> interesting work kick in again, but without the > confidence- and
>> enthusiasm-sapping disappointment that comes from > repeated failure
>> to find work.
>> I think that's called a cocaine habit. :-)
>
> The difference between happiness that is derived from illicit drugs and
> happiness derived from real life is that the former does not really
> last, ending in tolerance, dependence, depression, deterioration in
> physical health, inability to work and look after oneself, not to
> mention criminal activity due to the fact that the drugs are illegal.
> This is because drugs are a very crude way of stimulating the nervous
> system. It is like programming a computer with a soldering iron. The
> only time drugs work well is if there is a relatively simple fault, like
> an excess or deficit of a certain neurotransmitter, and even there you
> have to be lucky for function to return to normal.
Which presumes a well-defined "normal".
> Changing specific
> aspects of thinking or emotions without screwing up other functions in
> the process would require much greater finesse than modern pharmacology
> can provide, and greater efficacy than psychology can provide.
> David Pearce in "The Hedonistic Imperative", and some science fiction
> writers (Greg Egan, Walter Jon Williams come to mind) have looked at
> some of the consequences of being able to reprogram your emotions,
> motivations, memories and personality.
Larry Niven imagined a future in which you would be able to plug into implanted electrodes in your brain and selectively stimulate different areas. I think this was suggested to him by popular articles on finding a "pleasure center" in rats.
>No-one that I am aware of has
> explored how utterly alien a world in which we had access to our own
> source code at the finest level would be.
I wouldn't download anything from Microsoft!
Brent Meeker
The first time Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck
will be when they build vacuum cleaners.
--- Bill Jefferys
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Received on Mon Dec 25 2006 - 02:21:16 PST