Brian Paschke- The Future of Human Nature Final Paper Proposal
For my project I will draw most heavily on the books Jimmy Corrigan and Lilith’s Brood. I will use some information compiled by Silver to show that the direction we are headed is not reversible, and is in fact desirable. To provide a counterargument I will use McKibben, as I feel he makes some artificial distinctions between right and wrong. I believe that McKibben’s views are too based in the flesh and physical reality, when in fact our human society is an imagined product of our advanced neural structure. I recently part of a book by Benedict Anderson entitled “Imagined Communities” In which he describes modern nations. Some believe that Nietzsche preaches a doctrine of uncaring, this is false- Nietzsche merely believes that fantasy is necessary in order for human life.
Jimmy Corrigan has every material thing he needs in his life. Jimmy has a stable job, a comfortable house, plenty of food. His basic physical needs are more than met, judging by his extra girth. Jimmy is still miserable, and this is because his mental needs far exceed what his overeating can match. Modern man does not have the old support structure and must look to something new.
In Lilith’s Brood I bring two most important points- The humans have an ability to deny reality. Shut off their senses and imagine an alternate reality of their choosing. The Oankali most closely identify with their family group- “Lo was more than a town. It was a family group”- pg 557 Humans have evolved beyond this family need. We have a sense of species that the Oankali somehow do not understand (although they should because of their tradition of Akjai) The Oankali have evolved to point where they do not care about their species because it is only the mission that they care about. If Humans do not want to destroy themselves, they must learn to respect knowledge above all.
This is what I want to prove in my essay, that nothing essentially human would be lost if humans were enhanced to an advanced point unrecognizable by ourselves. I argue that technological improvements possibly leading to a species without a physical body is not to be feared, but should be viewed as an metamorphosis wherein the need for physical comforts slough off and a more pure, superior being rooted in a conceptual world view emerges.
I’ve drank wine and eaten cheese in the hills of France, I am not claiming to be a person who is more intellectual than physical, or even that one is the better… I know I would prefer to remain driven purely by physical sensations, but I do not believe that humanity can continue on exactly the same path forever.
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5 comments:
By pure chance I read this one last - I almost missed it, in fact.
It's a provocative and compelling proposal, certainly one of my favorites. I like it because it has a strong opinion and a strong point of view, which is deeply rooted in our shared readings without being identical to them in any way.
I do find it mildly curious that you don't really have much to say about *why* the next stage of our development is so desirable. You may have a strong idea, but that central thing isn't really present here yet.
I also wonder, on reflection, if you even really need the Butler here. Maybe you intend to use her as introductory material, which could be highly effective. I guess I'm just saying that you should feel free to cut that aspect of the paper if it seems superfluous to you.
This proposal is very controversial in nature, and therefore leads to an ability to make a good argument and counter-argument.
It is good that you have already done some outside research to get the thoughts flowing on your subject, along with quotes to enhance the paper. These will be very helpful in getting your point across to the audience.
One thing you may want to be careful of is making sure that you are not cramming all these different writings and ideas into a paper, and giving them all their equal look. One other thing you could possibly do is to look into people that Silver and McKibben quoted in their books and see if any of their ideas can help to strengthen your stance on the inevitable enhancement of humans.
Sounds like a great idea and it seems that you have a lot of ideas for the topic. You'll have no trouble finding counter-arguments and Silver those that Silver used in his book will be a great source of information. I think your research can also lead you to the "why" question that Dr Johns proposed.
This is a very exciting argument for the fact that it leads to good a main idea as well as good counter arguments.
I agree with what Colin says, you have a lot of ideas here and you need to be careful not to pack your paper with them. I feel that its going to be very difficult to write a paper with this many ideas. I would suggest to
As both Dr.Johns and Lauren have stated you should ask "why". Dig deeper into your main idea and the find an answer to why and your paper will be complete.
As the others have said, you make a compelling argument and it is clearly evident that you feel very strongly about this topic. I think your own personal opinions could add a lot to your paper and your arguments.
I think that you will have a lot of research and ideas for your counter-argument if you use McKibben since he and Silver really express opposite viewpoints. In your count-argument, you may wish to talk about the ethical issues that McKibben brings up, and then refute them in the rest of your paper.
I think that you have a lot of good material here and that you're ready to start writing your paper.
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