ChimpBrain

I'm with you. Far too much bickering over things that are completely subjective, unknown, or unknowable, and not enough positive open minded encouragement. Granted, as far as forums go, it's still by far the most civil I've ever been involved in.

Nah don't let Vizual's post deter you. His post is correct and your post was correct. I didn't read it as being judgemental. I'm guilty of smartphone over-use too. I don't do it in public really, it's when I'm alone that I feel that magnetic pull. A few things I've done to reduce the temptation is turn my phone screen to black & white, take several social media apps like twitter and facebook off of my phone completely, turn ALL notifications off completely, and move any remaining social media type apps to the very back of my app pages where I have to dig for them and they're not staring me in the face everytime I open my phone. This is sort of like putting a band-aid on a cut that desperately needs stitches, but it's better than nothing. It's made me much more aware of my phone usage and the feeling of "pull" or attraction that my phone has over me.

Buy Leo's book list. Read everything that you think could benefit you. Then read every book recommended in each of those books that you think could benefit you. Like eelco said, you'll find that some are mentioned over and over again. Man's search for meaning by Victor Frankl and meditations by Marcus Aurelius come to mind for me in that regard.

^ that was an accident I can't figure out how to undo. I have issues with using a mobile on this site. I'm Going to post the actual definitions of technological singularity and transhumanism tomorrow when I get back to a computer so we all stop arguing past each other and get to the core of each proposition. Seems to be a lot of conflating the two going on in here.

I've had something like 60-80 psychedelic experiences over the past 20yrs. Maybe more, it's hard to estimate over a 20yr period. Never had a bad trip, nothing even bordering on one actually. Also, in my younger days, these trips were usually in groups of 2-10 people and I never saw anyone else have what I'd consider a truly "bad trip" in the common sense of the phrase either. I saw people overwhelmed with emotion and cry a lot, but after its over that feels like healing, not a bad trip. The only times I saw anything regrettable happen were when people were drinking heavily while on LSD. Alcohol simply does not mix well with psychedelics. They're polar opposites. Just my experience. I'm in no way trying to downplay your negative experiences.

In all seriousness I know what you mean, I was just trying to crack a joke. For me, audio books, certain YouTube channels and podcasts make up the overwhelming majority of my formal entertainment. I avoid "cable" TV at all costs and when I'm occasionally subjected to it, like in a waiting room or at family's house, it's immediately obvious why I made that choice. I post on a few formums too. Here, a fitness forum, and one that's sort of a catch-all. I also avoid Facebook like the plague now, and just like with cable TV, if I ever venture back over there for something, it's immediately apparent why I gave it up in the first place. I workout for about 90min a day but I don't consider that to be entertainment. On Sundays my whole family gets together at my mom's place to swim, let the kids play together, grill some food and have dinner together. I guess that counts as entertainment. Whether it's "high consciousness" or not would depend on your family I guess?

Fox news

I agree with the general sentiment of your post. Far too many 10/10 ratings in here. I disagree with your rating explanation/breakdown though. Why would a book with a rating of 0/10 be considered excellent, concise, highly informative, etc.? Wouldn't a book with a zero rating be more along the lines of "the biggest waste of time I've ever embarked on"? And theres no such thing as "beyond unparalleled". Unparalleled would literally mean it's the best book you've ever read. There can't be anything beyond that in your personal experience. Again I agree with your general premise, I'm just nitpicking. 2 books I read from Leo's list that I felt I got far less than expected from were radical honesty and the six pillars of self esteem.

Yeah you're right, there seems to be a few separate but parallel arguments going on at once, and the OP does specifically mention transhumanism, my bad. I still think the idea that we AREN'T going to eventually merge with technology seems naive. This whole life extension stuff with Aubrey de Grey and the transhumanism stuff has me really intrigued. What kind of self improvement and wisdom could you achieve if you lived for a thousand years!?

Good to know. I'm adding it to my Audible list. I had read the description before after seeing it in your book list but it didn't seem all that interesting to me. After rereading the description I'm not sure why that was my initial impression.

"A guide to the good life, the ancient art of stoic joy." by William Irvine

I think Leo is unintentionally straw-manning because he's not that familiar with the topic and the arguments surrounding it (I don't claim to be either FWIW). Nowhere in the argument for a technological singularity is consciousness even mentioned. AI having a consciousness is not presupposed for them to possess superhuman intelligence, as I know you're already well aware. It's all about runaway technology. I personally see no problem with AI developing consciousness though. If it can inhabit us, millions of forms of animals and insects, now they think possibly even plants, why couldn't it inhabit some superhuman form of intelligence? It's just one more type of eyes for the universe to observe itself through. I actually think it's likely they could develop a consciousness far more complex than our own. Why not? Ours is more complex than anything else we're aware of, but to think that our consciousness is the most complex possible is foolish.

Super intelligence by Nick bostrom would be a good starting point. It's a little dense at times but I think it's hard to avoid that given the topic.

I just listened to Sam Harris' latest podcast yesterday with Eric Weinstein (mathematacian/physicist) where they agreed that superhuman AI is really the only problem worth worrying about right now and all of our greatest minds should be working on it. Sam just did a TED talk on AI but I don't think it's out yet. While I don't agree that it's the only problem worth worrying about (likely hyperbole on their part) I do think it's something that will be a very real issue within my lifetime.

I think the phrasing of your question might be unclear @actualized1 . It is to me anyway.

I also really enjoyed it. It was the first book I read that made me think the whole spirituality thing wasn't just a bunch of woo-woo nonsense.

I typed a reply that didn't have anything to do with the OP, couldn't figure out how to just delete it, so this is what I'm writing instead.

I also think it's inevitable. And I think it's awesome. What I find even more fascinating is simulation theory.

I'd never heard of it so I went to the wiki page. Just from the opening summary it sounds like it's basically dismissed as pseudoscience en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming

I'm just a white boy from Oklahoma so like you I have minimal first hand experience with Muslims as people, but I did go down a rabbit hole on this topic for a few months recently and *might* be able to offer something of value. Like the Bible, the Quran is very contradictory. The first part is mostly peace and love and the second part is war and conquest. It was written over a long period of time, during which Muhammad was booted from mecca and moved to Medina, hence the terms "mecca Muslims" and "Medina Muslims" referring to different sects that place more or less emphasis on the earlier or latter verses. Once in Medina his contact with the Devine seems to take a turn for the worse and it's because he went to war with the people who kicked him out of mecca and needed to convince his followers that they were on a holy mission from God. You are also dealing with the concept of abrogation, meaning anything written later supercedes the earlier verses. Since the latter half of the book is war and conquest that doesn't work out so well. Then there's the fact that the Muslim world never went through an enlightenment period and still take the scriptures literally. You seem to be worried about how Islam manifests itself in the world, which we can see clearly with our own eyes. Who cares what the book says if it's adherents have a tendency to go on murder sprees and justify it with passages from their holy book. That's really all we need to know. A few video recommendations for you if you're interested - "by the numbers" by the clarion project. Dave rubin's interview with majid Nawaz, and Dave rubin's interview with Ayaan hirsi Ali. Take everything I say with a huge grain of salt. It's probably half true at best.

Haven't masturbated in years. Not because I have some monk-like self control, I just have no libido. I am married though and have sex with my wife once a week or so. I do this to "keep her satisfied" more than anything, which I feel guilty about. If left completely up to me it'd probably be more like once a month. Not sure why I'm like this, it used to be the polar opposite.

She's a member here in case you didn't already know. @Emerald Wilkins

Human Plato's? Is that a typo? I thought I'd seen all of his videos at least once but that doesn't ring a bell.

Hi Mary. I just wanted to assure you that you're not alone. I've been doing 20 min a day for about 6 months now, and when sober, don't get much more from meditation than simple stress relief and an awareness of just how stressed and overwhelmed I feel 24/7.