X-Message-Number: 17153 Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 22:02:13 -0700 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Cat's View of Survival George Smith, #17143, consults his cat for advice about survival. His cat (Dr. Spot) says its basically you seek pleasure and avoid pain, which is about what my cat, Aido, also says. I ask Aido if he would be eternally happy with an infinite carpet of catfood to munch up, always staying hungry but always in the process of getting satiated. And more or less he says yeah, that would be fine, provided he didn't have too long a memory or otherwise it might get boring. Or it may be that there are other pleasures too that he'd want to enjoy. So I say, okay, suppose we just make you a wirehead--fix you up so your pleasure centers are stimulated to the max, you are thrilled and gratified as much as you have the capacity to sense--and just leave you that way. Well, my cat has no reason *not* to favor that alternative, since he has no conception of developing into a higher being, which requires some idea of what it is that is to develop as well as what it should mean to develop but not change into a different being (because, after all, it's Aido himself who wants to benefit, not some other entity). I try to tell him that to properly consider these issues, and what survival should mean, including *what it is* that is to survive, you need some notion of *self*. I also try to tell him that being concerned about this *could* be burdensome, but *need not be*, and, in fact, it could also be delightful, if done the right way under the right circumstances. In particular you don't have to worry that you must "earn the right" to survive! You already have that right! That part I think he does understand, and it's something we both agree on very well. But otherwise he's only a cat, and he doesn't get what I'm talking about, or if he does, he doesn't seem interested. Just bring on the acres of ecstasy, he seems to keep saying. What do I need my memories or any of that stuff for, it's only a means to an end, isn't it, something you could just bypass and forget about? Well, I have other plans for him. Some day, I intend to see to it that he advances to a being with greater capacity to see what I'm talking about, so then he'll be in a better position to judge, and just maybe not opt for becoming a wirehead. Since he's only a cat I can probably get away with it, though I might have to get off-planet first. Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17153