Now hold the phone, slam on the break, just a second, etc.

To the Moderators - this is not a rant or anything angry. My response is of genuine surprise at Daniel's take on my posting in terms of his interpretation.

You may accuse me of many things, but - and I quote - "[the] cheerlead[ing of] the eventual disappearance of human consciousness - you would maybe say transcendence, but let's face it, you really mean disappearance."

?!!

If I have tried to do anything in my life it is to do my little part to WAKE UP humanity's consciousness and its inherent goodness, not bring it down. The human race already has too many of its members wallowing in depression and negative behavior, why would I want to add to it? Certainly getting rid of "consciousness" wouldn't help (and how the heck would I do that anyway? I feel lucky when I get my kids to listen to me once in a while - but the whole world? Yikes!)

I have a long fascination with life beyond Earth and the evolutionary pathways of the human species. Naturally I am going to have to speculate in certain areas and go out on an intellectual limb once in a while. And either I say what I think or why bother at all? And if I worried all the time about what others might think of my ideas, then my views are virtually worthless. But I do happen to think my ideas have merit and I try awful darn hard to keep them above the metaphysical realm (read New Age mumbo jumbo) whenever possible.

As Groucho Marx once said, if what you say isn't upsetting somebody, it isn't worth saying then, or words to that effect.

If the Forum Moderators feel my posts are too speculative, I will move them elsewhere (Off Topic, I presume?). But ya know, if this forum becomes a bunch of dry facts and endless debates of VSE and CEV, what will happen to stimulating discourse, which is what I have been trying to do here. That's my idea of fun.

The human race is not going to remain the same as it is now. It is either going to evolve into something different which I hope will be even better - and yes, with our minds not only intact but improved. But I also worry that we may not survive to that point, being stuck on one planet yet still acting like our Cro-Magnon ancestors as if we have unlimited resources and room to grow.

I also see the possibility that the next intelligence that comes from Earth may not be our direct descendants with big bald heads and tiny little bodies but the artificial minds we are improving on every day. What happens if or when they acheive consciousness? Will they say Thanks, Parents and head out into the galaxy? Will they smush us ala Skynet from The Terminator? Will they do nothing? Or will they do something we can't even imagine?

That seems worthy of speculation to me. Even if AI doesn't happen, these ideas can be applied to life elsewhere.

But to say that I am trying to get rid of consciousness? Hoy.