Latest from Yuval Harari

[Lou Gold]

There's surely much metaphysical to argue over in this recent NY Times interview with Yuval Harari.

I'm pretty skeptical that a 2% per annum GDP investment (currently 1.7 trillion USD) can be sufficient to turn the tide on climate change but there are more interesting assertions like what he has to say about "transhumanism" at the end of the interview.

Sorry about the paywall. If you've used up the monthly freebies you can try it in a new browser,

[Jim Cross]

Honestly I have never been able to see that much that was insightful in what Harari has written. It always seems either banal or over generalized.

I pretty skeptical too about 2%. I would like to see what the investment is. Whatever investment is made has to be counterbalanced with stopping the bad stuff we do and that may be harder than coming up with the investments.

If you're looking for a metaphysical link there's this:

Many of the philosophical questions that have bothered humanity for thousands of years are now becoming practical. Previously philosophy was a kind of luxury: You can indulge in it or not. Now you really need to answer crucial philosophical questions about what humanity is or the nature of the good in order to decide what to do with, for example, new biotechnologies.

[Lou Gold]

Honestly I have never been able to see that much that was insightful in what Harari has written. It always seems either banal or over generalized.

I pretty skeptical too about 2%. I would like to see what the investment is. Whatever investment is made has to be counterbalanced with stopping the bad stuff we do and that may be harder than coming up with the investments.

If you're looking for a metaphysical link there's this:

Many of the philosophical questions that have bothered humanity for thousands of years are now becoming practical. Previously philosophy was a kind of luxury: You can indulge in it or not. Now you really need to answer crucial philosophical questions about what humanity is or the nature of the good in order to decide what to do with, for example, new biotechnologies.

Yup and a transhumanism combining AI and human biology is what has been predicted as a saving vision by the originator of the Gaia Hypothesis of a future epoch in which humans and artificial intelligence together will help the Earth survive. See James Lovelock: "Novacene"

[Soul_of_Shu]

Fortunately, my spouse, who has no interest in metaphysics whatsoever, quickly uses up all the free monthly allotment of the NYT, and spares me the temptation.

[AshvinP]

Honestly I have never been able to see that much that was insightful in what Harari has written. It always seems either banal or over generalized.

I pretty skeptical too about 2%. I would like to see what the investment is. Whatever investment is made has to be counterbalanced with stopping the bad stuff we do and that may be harder than coming up with the investments.

If you're looking for a metaphysical link there's this:

Many of the philosophical questions that have bothered humanity for thousands of years are now becoming practical. Previously philosophy was a kind of luxury: You can indulge in it or not. Now you really need to answer crucial philosophical questions about what humanity is or the nature of the good in order to decide what to do with, for example, new biotechnologies.

Yup and a transhumanism combining AI and human biology is what has been predicted as a saving vision by the originator of the Gaia Hypothesis of a future epoch in which humans and artificial intelligence together will help the Earth survive. See James Lovelock: "Novacene"

Unfortunately, these things will become more common as people do everything possible to avoid confronting the spiritual reality which is irrupting within the physical. How do you stop an unstoppable force of Nature from manifesting in human experience? You don't fight the force itself, but try and stop people from ever noticing it or understanding it by getting them to willingly replace all of their life (soul) and thinking (spirit) processes with lifeless mechanism. But to end on a more positive note, I will quote this Wisdom expressed through Jean Gebser and The EPO:

The new mutation of consciousness, on the other hand, as a consequence of arationality, receives its decisive stamp from the manifest perceptual emergence of the spiritual....

Two apocryphal statements of Christian doctrine clarify in their way what is meant here: “This world is a bridge, cross it but do not make of it your dwelling place,”2 and “I have chosen you before the earth began.”3 They point to the spiritual origin prior to all spatio-temporal materialization. We may regard such materialization as a bridge that makes possible the merging or coalescence, the concrescere of origin and the present. The great church father Irenaeus presumably had these sayings in mind when he stated: “Blessed is he who was before the coming of man.”4 We have seen him; he revealed himself in space and time. In his departure he was beheld by his disciples in his transparency, a transparency appropriate only to the spiritual origin (if anything can be appropriated to it), the transparency which a time-free and ego-free person can presentiate in the most fortunate certainty of life. The grand and painful path of consciousness emergence, or, more appropriately, the unfolding and intensification of consciousness, manifests itself as an increasingly intense luminescence of the spiritual in man.

Throughout the millennia the traditionalists, the “initiates,” have seen man’s previous journey as a decline, a departure from the affinity to and a distanciation from origin. Painful as this distanciation may be, it has served the requisite intensification of consciousness. Only distanciation contains the possibility for the awakening of consciousness. The phenomenon releasing origin is spiritual, and with each consciousness mutation it becomes more realizable by man. With respect to the presently emerging mutation we may speak of a concretion of the spiritual.

[Soul_of_Shu]

But to end on a more positive note, I will quote this Wisdom expressed through Jean Gebser and The EPO:

The new mutation of consciousness, on the other hand, as a consequence of arationality, receives its decisive stamp from the manifest perceptual emergence of the spiritual....

Two apocryphal statements of Christian doctrine clarify in their way what is meant here: “This world is a bridge, cross it but do not make of it your dwelling place,”2 and “I have chosen you before the earth began.”3 They point to the spiritual origin prior to all spatio-temporal materialization. We may regard such materialization as a bridge that makes possible the merging or coalescence, the concrescere of origin and the present. The great church father Irenaeus presumably had these sayings in mind when he stated: “Blessed is he who was before the coming of man.”4 We have seen him; he revealed himself in space and time. In his departure he was beheld by his disciples in his transparency, a transparency appropriate only to the spiritual origin (if anything can be appropriated to it), the transparency which a time-free and ego-free person can presentiate in the most fortunate certainty of life. The grand and painful path of consciousness emergence, or, more appropriately, the unfolding and intensification of consciousness, manifests itself as an increasingly intense luminescence of the spiritual in man.

Throughout the millennia the traditionalists, the “initiates,” have seen man’s previous journey as a decline, a departure from the affinity to and a distanciation from origin. Painful as this distanciation may be, it has served the requisite intensification of consciousness. Only distanciation contains the possibility for the awakening of consciousness. The phenomenon releasing origin is spiritual, and with each consciousness mutation it becomes more realizable by man. With respect to the presently emerging mutation we may speak of a concretion of the spiritual.

Yeah but, what % of the GDP will have to be invested to make this happen?

[idlecuriosity]

Honestly I have never been able to see that much that was insightful in what Harari has written. It always seems either banal or over generalized.

I pretty skeptical too about 2%. I would like to see what the investment is. Whatever investment is made has to be counterbalanced with stopping the bad stuff we do and that may be harder than coming up with the investments.

If you're looking for a metaphysical link there's this:

Yup and a transhumanism combining AI and human biology is what has been predicted as a saving vision by the originator of the Gaia Hypothesis of a future epoch in which humans and artificial intelligence together will help the Earth survive. See James Lovelock: "Novacene"

Unfortunately, these things will become more common as people do everything possible to avoid confronting the spiritual reality which is irrupting within the physical. How do you stop an unstoppable force of Nature from manifesting in human experience? You don't fight the force itself, but try and stop people from ever noticing it or understanding it by getting them to willingly replace all of their life (soul) and thinking (spirit) processes with lifeless mechanism. But to end on a more positive note, I will quote this Wisdom expressed through Jean Gebser and The EPO:

The new mutation of consciousness, on the other hand, as a consequence of arationality, receives its decisive stamp from the manifest perceptual emergence of the spiritual....

Two apocryphal statements of Christian doctrine clarify in their way what is meant here: “This world is a bridge, cross it but do not make of it your dwelling place,”2 and “I have chosen you before the earth began.”3 They point to the spiritual origin prior to all spatio-temporal materialization. We may regard such materialization as a bridge that makes possible the merging or coalescence, the concrescere of origin and the present. The great church father Irenaeus presumably had these sayings in mind when he stated: “Blessed is he who was before the coming of man.”4 We have seen him; he revealed himself in space and time. In his departure he was beheld by his disciples in his transparency, a transparency appropriate only to the spiritual origin (if anything can be appropriated to it), the transparency which a time-free and ego-free person can presentiate in the most fortunate certainty of life. The grand and painful path of consciousness emergence, or, more appropriately, the unfolding and intensification of consciousness, manifests itself as an increasingly intense luminescence of the spiritual in man.

Throughout the millennia the traditionalists, the “initiates,” have seen man’s previous journey as a decline, a departure from the affinity to and a distanciation from origin. Painful as this distanciation may be, it has served the requisite intensification of consciousness. Only distanciation contains the possibility for the awakening of consciousness. The phenomenon releasing origin is spiritual, and with each consciousness mutation it becomes more realizable by man. With respect to the presently emerging mutation we may speak of a concretion of the spiritual.

What purpose does Christianity serve for phenomenological and spiritual idealism? It's a popular religion to be sure but I don't think there's a huge reason to believe any of the things it described actually happened, although it may be instrumental in elucidating us as to what higher consciousness or higher entities would look like if there's a parallel between what we gravitate to religiously and what 'is.' You mentioned Christ rising again in another thread, but if we're to assume cause and effect are still cognizant actors in M@L and perhaps, too, in working out how the light beyond the cave operates then how can we assume for sure biblical values weren't fabricated to manage large groups of people by serving as bulwarks between our lesser nature and visiting a pox on society?

A greater god may exist but may not take on all of the mythological presuppositions of the ancient hebrew mythology itself. It may have even been a misinterpreted visitation from such a higher entity, which could also explain why so many people gravitate to the 'idea' of God while sometimes (as decent people) shirking a lot of the minutiae from the behavioural code and conduct. 'Knowing God,' some call it. But would that be the Christian god?

[Ben Iscatus]

The idea of God becoming Man is important in Analytic Idealism, because it can be interpreted as God's need for Man's metaconscious morality.

[idlecuriosity]

The idea of God becoming Man is important in Analytic Idealism, because it can be interpreted as God's need for Man's metaconscious morality.

How so? Elaborate

[Ben Iscatus]

Only Man (evolved in a planetary environment) can metacognize. The transpersonal mind (MAL) does not metacognize (because it has nothing to oppose its will) so knows not what it does in moral terms (is amoral). Our self-reflection feeds back to MAL to inform future evolution (hopefully reducing predatory and parasitic cruelty and suffering).