/lit/ - Literature

https://nickbostrom.com/utopia

>Dear Human,

>Greetings, and may this letter find you at peace and in prosperity. Forgive my writing to you out of the blue. We have never met, yet we are not strangers. We are, in a sense, the closest of kin!

>I am one of your possible futures. I hope you will become me. Should this wish come true, then I am not just a possible future, but your actual future: a coming phase of you, like the flower that follows the seed. I am writing to tell you about my life - that you may choose it for yourself.

>I am really writing on behalf of all my contemporaries, and we are addressing ourselves to all of your contemporaries. Amongst us are many who are possible futures of your people. Some of us are possible futures of children that have not yet been delivered. Still others are possible artificial persons that you might one day create. We are all dependent on you to make us real.

>We call our lives "Utopia".

>How can I tell you about Utopia and not leave you mystified? With what words could I convey the wonder? My pen, I fear, is as unequal to the task as if I had tried to use it against a charging war elephant.

>But maybe you will overlook the weakness of my exposition.

https://nickbostrom.com/utopia

>Dear Human,

>Greetings, and may this letter find you at peace and in prosperity. Forgive my writing to you out of the blue. We have never met, yet we are not strangers. We are, in a sense, the closest of kin!

>I am one of your possible futures. I hope you will become me. Should this wish come true, then I am not just a possible future, but your actual future: a coming phase of you, like the flower that follows the seed. I am writing to tell you about my life - that you may choose it for yourself.

>I am really writing on behalf of all my contemporaries, and we are addressing ourselves to all of your contemporaries. Amongst us are many who are possible futures of your people. Some of us are possible futures of children that have not yet been delivered. Still others are possible artificial persons that you might one day create. We are all dependent on you to make us real.

>We call our lives "Utopia".

>How can I tell you about Utopia and not leave you mystified? With what words could I convey the wonder? My pen, I fear, is as unequal to the task as if I had tried to use it against a charging war elephant.

>But maybe you will overlook the weakness of my exposition.

>>23440453
This is a short story, but it's about a world where aging is cured.

https://nickbostrom.com/utopia.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0zra4ZF3U0

>Your body is a deathtrap. This machine, unless it jams first or crashes, is sure to rust anon. You be lucky to get seven decades. That is not sufficient to get started in a serious way, much less to complete the journey. The path to maturity of the soul takes longer. Why, even a tree-life takes longer!

>Death is not one but a multitude of assassins. Do you not see them? They are coming at you from every angle. Take aim at the causes of early death - infection, violence, malnutrition, heart failure, cancer. Train your biggest gun on aging, and fire. You must seize control of the biochemical processes in your body in order to vanquish, by and by, illness and senescence. In time, you will discover ways to move your mind to more durable media. Then continue to improve the system, so that the risks of death and disease keep receding. Any death prior to the heat death of the universe is premature if your life is good.

>>22617618
Nick Bostrom wrote a short story called Letter from Utopia.

https://nickbostrom.com/utopia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0zra4ZF3U0

>>19891943
https://www.nickbostrom.com/utopia.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWP1rlbjszg

>Dear Human,

>Greetings, and may this letter find you at peace and in prosperity! Forgive my writing to you out of the blue. Though you and I have never met, we are not strangers. We are, in a certain sense, the closest of kin_

>I am one of your possible futures. One day, I hope, you will become me. Should fortune grant this wish, then I am not just a possible future of yours, but your actual future: a coming phase of you, like the full moon that follows a waxing crescent, or like the flower that follows a seed. I am writing to tell you about my life - how marvelous it is - that you may choose it for yourself.

>Although this letter uses the singular, I am really writing on behalf of my all my contemporaries, and we are addressing ourselves to all of your contemporaries. Amongst us are many who are possible futures of your people. Some of us are possible futures of children you have not yet given birth to. Still others are possible artificial persons that you might one day create. What unites us is that we are all dependent on you to make us real. Think of this note as if it were an invitation to a ball - a ball that will take place only if people show up.

>We call the lives we lead here "Utopia".