X-Message-Number: 2783 Date: Thu, 26 May 94 23:00:06 From: <> Subject: CRYONICS Goal of Life COMMENT ON THE GOAL OF LIFE Some recent discussion on the net offered the suggestion that the goal of existence, for a sentient organism, might be a static, ecstatic state. Bob Ettinger, in #2769, offers two reasons for rejecting this position, (1) a static being would presumably be defenseless, lessening the *probability* of realizing maximum feel-good or benefit over infinite time, and (2) a static state, however prolonged, would have to seem brief since variation is needed to be aware of the passage of time. To these reasons I offer a third possibility: that the amount of pleasure that a given, finite being could sense must be limited in some way. To experience more pleasure would require a bigger brain. You would, for example, expect a person to be able to experience more feel-good than an earthworm. A more-than-human, by the same token, should be capable of more joy or benefit than a human even in the best of circumstances. To maximize the feel- good over time, then, would require a *developing* mind, one that knows no ultimate limit to its capacities. *We must become more than human.* There is an interesting discussion that has a bearing on this in the book, *The Religions of Man*, by Huston Smith (Harper & Row, 1958, 1965; there is also a later edition). In the chapter on Hinduism (which is not just about such things as the caste system but has deep and interesting philosophical insights) the three goals of a sentient being are identified as (1) infinite existence (immortality), (2) infinite knowledge, and (3) infinite bliss. The three are not to be considered separately or in isolation but, like the braided strands of a rope, are mutually interdependent and must all be taken together to form the most meaningful whole. It is easy to see how (2) and (3) require (1), for instance. Some of the other dependencies are less self-evident, perhaps, but are reasonable and consistent with rejecting a static state, however pleasurable and prolonged. In effect, along with mere survival, unlimited mental development is also required for the unlimited bliss that is the goal of sentience. At any given point in time, however, we can only experience finite existence, a finite amount of knowledge, and a finite state of bliss. The infinite, in each case, is only approached in the limit as time goes to infinity. The immortal life we aspire to, then, requires unending development and not fixation at one level. It remains to be seen if this will be possible, cosmologically, but of course we must try to make it so. Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2783