Choice

 Choice


On planet earth

in the common era

it is common

for pathological processes

to produce human bodies

without functional brains

and not uncommon

for pathology to result

in brains without functioning bodies


I believe

if given the choice

our first impulse

would be to be a brain


Upon further consideration

most of us may choose

to be a body

in which the mind

which once belonged to it

has evaporated


Futurists may choose

to have all that is them

in a conceptual sense

uploaded into a machine

a system of neural networks

capable of massive parallel processing

at immensely superhuman speeds


Thinking at such high speed 

might create life 

approaching the speed of light

millenia passing

in the blink of an eye

the thinker disappearing

into the singularity

almost instantaneously 


Assuming you chose

as an alternative way of prolonging life

an existence in a supercooled system

one approaching absolute zero

information processing 

would be so slow

that you could live

from one singularity to the next

every idea you ever have

separated by a 100,000 years


Either way

any glimmer of joy

you might have captured

would be consumed

by the vacuum energy

in which we are all buried


In our world

the invisible hand

of biological evolution

produces the ability

to survive and procreate

the epiphenomenon we call joy

precious and within reach 

of all sentient creatures

encompassing love and hope

the beauty of the sky

the meadows and the forests

the mountains and the streams

the smell of roses

the smell of the sea

the taste of fine wine

the thrill of adventure

the ecstasy of physical love

of the passions which drive us

as we circle slowly

round and around the sun


So the rational first choice

is to live at the momentum

available in this world

at this time

in the here and now

in the common era

in this Goldilocks zone

cherishing the idea

that to live

is also to let die


Aubrey Lieberman 

1/9/23






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