Nearly till the end I thought it was a metaphor for having kids...
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Ultimately this is a metaphysical question: What does it mean to be human as opposed to merely a digital model of a human?
Martin Buber wrote "I and Thou" about how "we may address existence in two ways:"
> The attitude of the "I" towards an "It", towards an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience.
> The attitude of the "I" towards "Thou", in a relationship in which the other is not separated by discrete bounds.
> One of the major themes of the book is that human life finds its meaningfulness in relationships. In Buber's view, all of our relationships bring us ultimately into relationship with God, who is the Eternal Thou.
As a hard sci-fi fan I feel that a lot of modern sci-fi is really a kind of sci-fi-flavored fantasy (I'm talking about written sci-fi, not TV/Movies.) Which is fine for entertainment value, don't get me wrong. It's just that without a deeper metaphysical grounding there's not a lot to think about, eh? With hard sci-fi you can at least pretend that you're exploring the possible consequences of actual scientific advances. But with e.g. the Acevedo Álvarez image it's up to the author if the instances of the image are people or things, "I" or "It", and to decide what that means.
This is coming out more critical than I intended. I like metaphysical fiction, and fantasy, and Star Trek, etc.
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The core question, when you really get down to the essence of intelligence and motivation, is, "What is good?"
It's an open-ended intelligence test.
(SPOILER ALERT, consider the character Teela Brown.)
There's an old story:
The farmer caught a wild horse and his neighbors all congratulated him on his good fortune, but he just said "Hmm."
His son tried to ride the horse and it threw him and he broke his arm, and all his neighbors consoled him for his misfortune, but he just said "Hmm."
The King came through drafting young men for the war but the farmer's son couldn't go because of his broken leg, and his neighbors all congratulated the farmer again on his good fortune, but he just said "Hmm."
Anyway, the story goes on like that for a few more reversals, each time a new event happens that changes the meaning of the previous event.
- - - -
Ultimately this is a metaphysical question: What does it mean to be human as opposed to merely a digital model of a human?
Martin Buber wrote "I and Thou" about how "we may address existence in two ways:"
> The attitude of the "I" towards an "It", towards an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience.
> The attitude of the "I" towards "Thou", in a relationship in which the other is not separated by discrete bounds.
> One of the major themes of the book is that human life finds its meaningfulness in relationships. In Buber's view, all of our relationships bring us ultimately into relationship with God, who is the Eternal Thou.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_and_Thou
- - - -
As a hard sci-fi fan I feel that a lot of modern sci-fi is really a kind of sci-fi-flavored fantasy (I'm talking about written sci-fi, not TV/Movies.) Which is fine for entertainment value, don't get me wrong. It's just that without a deeper metaphysical grounding there's not a lot to think about, eh? With hard sci-fi you can at least pretend that you're exploring the possible consequences of actual scientific advances. But with e.g. the Acevedo Álvarez image it's up to the author if the instances of the image are people or things, "I" or "It", and to decide what that means.
This is coming out more critical than I intended. I like metaphysical fiction, and fantasy, and Star Trek, etc.
- - - -
The core question, when you really get down to the essence of intelligence and motivation, is, "What is good?"
It's an open-ended intelligence test.
(SPOILER ALERT, consider the character Teela Brown.)
There's an old story:
The farmer caught a wild horse and his neighbors all congratulated him on his good fortune, but he just said "Hmm."
His son tried to ride the horse and it threw him and he broke his arm, and all his neighbors consoled him for his misfortune, but he just said "Hmm."
The King came through drafting young men for the war but the farmer's son couldn't go because of his broken leg, and his neighbors all congratulated the farmer again on his good fortune, but he just said "Hmm."
Anyway, the story goes on like that for a few more reversals, each time a new event happens that changes the meaning of the previous event.