Man Who Killed Himself On Harvard's Campus Left a 1,904 page suicide note

[Heraclitus]

No wonder Hera is excited about this.

Unitil Alby mentioned it I had no idea that there was any mention of the Jews. My philosemitism is well known, but I feel that since I didn't bring this up you are just being a bit paranoid.

[Heraclitus]

It's not that's it necessarily anti-semitic, though it seems to be, it's that it's dumb... I haven't read anything but the titles and that paragraph but I can tell already what this is about... it's about the idea that liberal democracy arises from oppressed groups and their attempts to have egalitarianism to ensure their own survival (I don't buy the Anglo-Saxons being oppressed by the Normans... there was assimilation and the English march to liberalism had much more to do with the remnants of established egalitarian Anglo-Saxon institutions and the nature of the English economy as being dominated by trade and shepherding... not to mention the mere chance involved with Richard having been an expensive king and John having to recover from his financial mess). This egalitarianism results in a long-term weakening of the people in a Liberal Democracy... yawn.

I know what's happening here... cause the guy killed himself, people want to believe that his writings are the works of a troubled genius or something because it incites their romantic imagination... he's just a nut who could very well be the ultimate attention whore.

Close but not quite. He dosen't see it as weakening the people but as a drive towards radical individualism which will result in human extinction, since humans will eventually treat machines and transhumans as individuals deserving "human" rights rather than as members of a group, and since they as individuals won't be able to compete the memes of "nurture" will finally kill the genes of "nature".

[DaShi]

Unitil Alby mentioned it I had no idea that there was any mention of the Jews. My philosemitism is well known, but I feel that since I didn't bring this up you are just being a bit paranoid.

That's not what I meant. It's the kind of stuff social rejects are attracted to. Basically, his stuff is like your posts here.

[Docfeelgood]

Shear genius or raving lunatic??

[Elok]

Shear genius or raving lunatic??

Judging by the titles, I'd say C. Pedantic jackass gone mildly unhinged by too much time reading pretentious and speculative works. Also, I'm guessing he either read V for Vendetta or saw the horrid movie adaptation.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm not surprised he lost the will to live after writing that...I did just beginning to read it.

[Az]

I'm not surprised he lost the will to live after writing that...I did just beginning to read it.

Zing!!

[Dinner]

Pathetic. If you're going to do it then just do it but don't leave us a dissertation about it.

[MOBIUS]

In other news, Reggie Bush will not be giving back his copy of that pdf.

Yeah, the first thing I thought was: Should he be getting a trophy for the world's longest suicide note?

Is it even the world's longest suicide note? Perhaps we could petition for him to be posthumously mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records...?

[-Jrabbit]

Evolution in action. Killing yourself to get attention for your long-winded ramblings is worthy of a Darwin Award nomination.

[curtis290]

Close but not quite. He dosen't see it as weakening the people but as a drive towards radical individualism which will result in human extinction, since humans will eventually treat machines and transhumans as individuals deserving "human" rights rather than as members of a group, and since they as individuals won't be able to compete the memes of "nurture" will finally kill the genes of "nature".

Interesting...I'm going to take a look at this. I've had similar thoughts on liberal democracy and transhumanism myself, although I haven't read enough nor have been able to come up with any good theories on the future of transhumans yet. I haven't read Fukuyama's stuff on it but after reading The End of History I decided he was an amateur academic who got lucky with the right essay (and title) at the right time. Heraclitus, did you read that section of the essay? Is it any good? I remember you mentioning transhumanism in your other thread; any good recommended reading material?

[Tuberski]

The Big Bang Theory was very timely this week, I see.

ACK!

[Heraclitus]

Interesting...I'm going to take a look at this. I've had similar thoughts on liberal democracy and transhumanism myself, although I haven't read enough nor have been able to come up with any good theories on the future of transhumans yet. I haven't read Fukuyama's stuff on it but after reading The End of History I decided he was an amateur academic who got lucky with the right essay (and title) at the right time. Heraclitus, did you read that section of the essay? Is it any good? I remember you mentioning transhumanism in your other thread; any good recommended reading material?

Relevance in the academic world is nearly always a function of being the right man with the right title in the right time. Fukuyamas treatment of a transhuman future is readable if somewhat average in quality. For a basic transhumanist perspective the wikipedia article together with its reference links does nicley. The essays of the economist Robin Hanson
and the Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom are also interesting. Kurzwell is oft cited and he has popularised his version of the singularity concept, however his thinking is sloppy. At this point I should emphasise that the belief in a upcoming Technological Singularity (or the inteligence explosion if you prefer that concept) dosen't nesecarily follow from Transhumanism, even though most transhumanists are also Singularitarians.

The site LessWrong (primarily a rationality site) has some interesting material in its wiki and the sequences. Elizer Yudkowsky has also made several interesting lectures and essays on the subject. I could of course go on since there is an entire blogoshpere (Accelerating Future is another example) built around, there is also a online magazine (h+).