[PostHuman]

I’ve been depressed and suicidal for most of my life, and the current human condition is the source of my depression. I usually feel like I’m trapped and drowning in a sea of undesirable information, and the only way out is death. The miniscule amount of optimism that I have is derived from the possibility that I may get to experience the privilege of temporarily escaping or transcending the current human condition because of futuristic technologies like full immersion virtual reality, genetic and cybernetic enhancements, and artificial (general / super) intelligence.

We seem to be living in a world where mental health professionals are indoctrinated to ignore everything that is wrong with our societies, and only focus on things like genetic predispositions and chemical imbalances. It’s obvious that injuries and abnormalities of the brain or endocrine system can cause depressive symptoms. But most psychiatrists and psychologists are ignoring the fact that it is perfectly normal to be depressed in a world where most of the people at the top of our social hierarchies are continuously embracing a culture of misery that promotes logical fallacies, tribal conflicts, and extreme inequality.

I would describe my misanthropy as an absence of love for the current human condition instead of describing it as hatred. I do experience some thoughts and emotions that could be described as contempt, anger, or rage when I think about the human race, but the rational analytical part of my brain usually does a good job of keeping my emotions in check. My philosophical beliefs and prefrontal cortex is currently keeping me out of a grave or prison, but they aren’t doing anything to help with my pursuit of happiness.

You could say that I am making a conscious choice not to punish myself by trying to have an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings, and not have persistent negative thoughts about humanity. But I don’t think any of us are really choosing to do the things we do. I think we’re living in a deterministic universe and our general concept of free will is an illusion or misperception that is derived a neurological feedback loop. Life can basically be described as the acquisition of energy and propagation of information or an emotional rollercoaster ride that we don’t get to choose. We are all just being done, and free will is a product of pattern recognition or an awareness of the deterministic ebb and flows of the emotional roller coaster or environmental patterns.

My philosophical beliefs are part of my hell because I feel like I’m trapped in a hellish deterministic program that is called the human condition. My misanthropy is a process that began when I was 2 years of age, or from the moment I started to become self-aware. But the depression didn’t begin until I was aware of the fact that this world is not conducive to my well-being, and happiness is basically an illusion or misperception of control, or a measure of how well your genetics and social programming is in alignment with your environment.

I feel like I’m not half the person that I could be, a quarter of the person that I could have been, and a tenth of the person that I would like to be. A world that would be conducive to well-being would be significantly different than our current conditions, but I’m a realist and a pessimist. With the way our culture and technology is evolving, the best escape that I can probably hope for is a peaceful death in the form of an assisted suicide service like Dignitas. I even hate the fact that I have to be careful about what I write about suicide because of our primitive fear of loss and archaic interpretations of religious text. Any civilized society should offer its citizens a peaceful escape from a hellish existence, especially if we’re not willing or capable of creating the social conditions that can allow most of us to achieve optimal states of wellness.

I can’t help but feel like starting this thread was a complete waste of time, but hopefully I’ll have some good conversations with people that share some of my desires or worldviews.

[PostHuman]

A discussion about society and mental illness. I don’t agree with everything that he says, but I think we all need to spend more time focusing on the societal causes of mental illness instead of primarily focusing on genetic predispositions, chemical imbalances, and antidepressants.

[Onward2wards]

Science already recognizes that mood disorders have biological, psychological and social components. I agree that the biological components may be getting more attention than the other two. The psychological and social factors are still being studied, however I think more work needs to be done on linking these with the biological aspects so we can get a more accurate picture of the processes involved.

[francisR]

Hi Misanthropy

I can understand why you feel the human condition is so painful. Particularly with depression. I can personally say that when depression was at its worst the human condition as I experienced it was little better than a torture chamber. However, as I got some grip on depression. The quality of life improved somewhat, so that now things are a bit better.
Transcending the human condition is quite difficult. I believe the only people that have done this successfully are Buddhist monks. And I would think that in the US there are Buddhist foundations where people can go for a sufficiently long period of time to experience this state. I do not feel that technologies such as you mentioned will transform things for us in the foreseeable future.
For us the human condition will be what we can make of it by getting a grip on depression, having a meaningful purpose in life, such as a charitable cause, or reconnection with things that fired you up in earlier times to give meaning and fulfillment.
You are quite right in saying that political leaders psychiatrists and psychologists are not dealing with all of the problems that make the human condition miserable. That is because they see their remit as being enabling patients to get control of their depression so they can have a better life. And with that better life perception of the human condition does change somewhat to a realization that life is really sunshine and showers good and bad times. That a lot of things wrong in the world is really not within our power to alter. What is in our power is to reach out to a lot of other people and try to make them feel better thus making a difference.
The only thing we can do to improve things generally is to support those movements that advocate for better human conditions.
For me, one of the most profound philosophical statements was made by Voltaire, who said we must cultivate our garden, which in fact means we must do what we can to improve our own human condition, and that of other people and we can make ourselves do that with what free will we have.
I would have to agree with you when you say that you feel you are not the person you could have been. That is so true. Because of depression, which is a really great obstacle to achieving full potential. However, the option remains with medication and therapy and persistent effort on our part to get control over depression so that we would then be in a position to move toward realizing some of our dreams and objectives. The past is history and focusing on preparing for a better future is all that can be done. Take care. I hope and pray your life experience will improve significantly in the future. God bless and best wishes from your friend Francis

[Tauren]

You'll feel better if you do something to help change things.

[PostHuman]

Originally Posted by francisR

Hi Misanthropy

I can understand why you feel the human condition is so painful. Particularly with depression. I can personally say that when depression was at its worst the human condition as I experienced it was little better than a torture chamber. However, as I got some grip on depression. The quality of life improved somewhat, so that now things are a bit better.

Transcending the human condition is quite difficult. I believe the only people that have done this successfully are Buddhist monks. And I would think that in the US there are Buddhist foundations where people can go for a sufficiently long period of time to experience this state. I do not feel that technologies such as you mentioned will transform things for us in the foreseeable future.

My mind is open to the idea that some monks are transcending the human condition by making some kind of conscious connection with god or the universe, but I would need scientific evidence to believe it. There are many religious and philosophical concepts (god(s), heaven, hell, karma, Zen, reincarnation, oneness with the universe) that people often associate with transcending the human condition, but I don’t think it is anything more than a profound spiritual experience that can be described as a neurological state or a chemical illusion. It is something that can be achieved through prayer, meditation, yoga, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and various narcotics like marijuana and MDMA. I don’t think Buddhist monks or any other group of people are currently doing anything to transcend the human condition. I think the beliefs that many people have about monks, yogis, and priests is derived from the “human” compulsion to revere people at the top of our social hierarchies, and the emotional connections to religious and philosophical teachings about existence, death, reincarnation, and the afterlife.

As a misanthrope I have a problem with the idea anthropomorphizing the concept of god, or worshiping and revering humans. I don’t care if it’s a celebrity, Jesus, Mohammed, Krishna or Buddha. I can love and respect people, but I stop at reverence. That’s one of the reasons why I think monks are just experiencing a complex or unique form of pattern recognition during silent contemplation. Instead of transcending the human condition, I would say that some monks are pushing the limits of the current human condition by having the ability to consciously control various autonomic functions like the physiological responses to fear and pain, heart rate, blood pressure, and core body temperature.

I’m familiar with various yogic and meditative exercises that are derived from Vedic, Hindu, and Buddhist philosophy. I started meditating on a regular basis about 16 years ago because of my interest in sports and martial arts. In the beginning I just wanted to learn how to control my response to pain. Afterwards it was mostly about controlling my anxiety and committing suicide without fear. I used to have a fear of heights, so I challenged myself by trying to keep my heart rate below a specific number while I was riding the highest roller coasters, bungee jumping, and sky diving. Falling to the ground in a calm state of mind was the perfect mental exercise to reduce my fear of death. Afterwards I learned about Tummo meditation and the Wim Hof method. Meditation helps me function in society without antidepressants. It doesn’t make me happy, but it usually keeps me in a dysthymic state of mind instead of a state that is associated with a major depressive disorder. Unfortunately I don’t think any amount of meditation can give me the temporary or permanent escape that I really want to experience. The transcendence that I would like to experience can’t be achieved without technology.

No one can predict the future, but our species is definitely approaching a point where we will be able to fundamentally change what it means to be human. Our technology has been changing the social conditions of our species since our inception, and it will probably continue to change our social conditions in ways that most of us can’t imagine. The only question is whether it will change things for the better or for the worse. I was introduced to transhumanism about 15 years ago when I read The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil. It was an introduction to a small group of optimistic, progressive, and open-minded futurists, scientists and engineers that were working to make the idea of the technological singularity a reality. The amount of people that are interested in transhumanism has increased since the year 2000. Many people still believe that Kurzweil is too optimistic, but with each year that passes the general perception of the technological singularity is moving closer to reality and further away from science fiction. Every time prominent scientists, engineers, and businessmen like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, or Stephen Hawking talk about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence it reminds people that our technology is evolving at an exponential rate. People are observing the reality of Moore’s law, and we are currently living with services and technologies (3D printing, smartphones, genetic testing, Etc.) that most people would have described as improbable or impossible when transhumanists started meeting formally in the early 1980s.

My ultimate dream is to have the privilege of connecting my brain to a realistic virtual reality. Some of the happiest moments in my life were my first experiences with head mounted displays or watching a movie in IMAX dome 3D. The idea of feeling completely disconnected from my body and society is my idea of bliss. Unfortunately interactive entertainment (video games, interactive literature and movies) and VR technology has progressed at snail’s pace since the late 1990s and early 2000s. I would be satisfied if I had the privilege of using the best technology that is currently available to temporarily escape the currently human condition, but I don’t have the option of paying a reasonable price for the escape that I desire. It is more of a software problem than a hardware problem. Most books, movies, television shows, and video games embrace and glorify different aspects of the current human condition instead of promoting transhumanism and radical social changes. I want to experience realities and interactive storylines where the so-called bad guys (aliens, AI, humans using force to implement radical change) win the conflicts. I want to experience worlds where people have different perceptions of good and evil, and people are no longer imprisoned by words, subservience, and tribalism. I want to experience worlds that are created by people that make an effort not to anthropomorphize other intelligent life, and assume that any alien or AI would have to think and act like us.

Knowing that the products and services that I want experience probably won’t be created any time soon unless I do something to help make it a reality is part of my hell. I wish I could be the change that I want to see in this world. I would currently be making the interactive entertainment that I want to see if my social behavior and cognitive abilities weren’t encumbered by my depression. Pleasure helps people cope with depression and the struggles of life. The joy that I would experience from virtual reality is no different than the joy that most people experience from forming relationships with friends, family, and sexual partners. I want to have the privilege of spending 12 to 18 hours of the day sleeping, working, taking care of my body, forming and maintaining relationships, and the other 6 to 12 hours in the bliss of VR.

[francisR]

Hi Posthuman

It is very difficult to prove whether monks and people like that are transcending the human condition. As you only have their reported experience to go on. The only thing that can be done is to do what they do for long enough to sample the experience. Respecting people's right. But reverencing them is not justifiable because they are just humans like ourselves.

I am glad that meditation has improved functioning for you. However, if you had been in the Buddhist monastery meditating for a year or so, or even a little bit longer your brain patterns, might have changed sufficiently to give you a permanent experience of calm.

The track record of technology so far has been to improve things and hopefully it will continue on this path in the future with new changes.

I am not sure to what extent escaping the human condition will be possible. Perhaps doing what can be done to transform and improve our own human experience would be the best way to go. At least that is doable. Take care. I hope and pray your day will be really good. Blessings and best wishes from your friend Francis