Wow, ya well I can certainly say we are wired differently. For instance I'm highly monogamous, in terms that I require a life partner of some kind to kinda continue being. Though I guess we are all social organisms so that is true for everyone in a way.
At one point where I was out of a relationship, I went completely coo coo bananas, and had several immaginary girl friends, and some scary alter ego, similar to the pre-enlightenment testing or what not that the Buddha went through. Though I guess reflecting back on it now, the imaginary ones started er "taunting" me before the end of my previous relationship, perhaps borne out of the dissatisfaction of being with an overweight girlfriend that wasn't pale enough for my taste, while at the same time valuing monogamy so highly that I couldn't bring myself to leave her, so simply went insane instead. Anyways ironically enough, once that relationship ended, and I managed to overcome the trepidations, and cut off the imaginary companions. I got into a new relationship and it's been going great ever since :-D -- 4 years and soon a baby. Now I'm all big on buddhist non-attachment, but it actually turns out that while it's good in moderation, it can be counter-productive if done to excess at least in relationships. Partners have to feel needed, and appreciated in some way, otherwise they may feel dissatisfied and stray from the relation, and thereby there must be an attachment formed to them, in order to maintain the relationship, both during smooth sailing, and stormy/bumpy weather or what have you. Anyways ya, so middle path and all :-). On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 8:39 PM, Chris Nolan <[email protected]>wrote: > Ben, > > that's an interesting concept. From my reading of Buddhism is also seems > like non-attachment in meditation is also often linked with metta practice, > or compassion meditation to state it in a simplified way. Have you looked > at any of the neuroscience papers on that practice? In the simple example > you supply of "Bob" detaching from his girlfriend the practice would be not > just "letting go of the suffering of the break-up" but also adding a > compassion practice for ex-girlfriend, in this way the Buddhist practice > would be developing non-attachment in conjunction with compassion for the > individual and their choice. In this way an individual avoids just falling > into the trap of avoiding suffering and so getting caught by it even more. > Side note: as someone having been in a number of break-ups I've found it > works better than just trying to detach, haha... > > I bring it up because I wonder if the concept could be informative for the > goal of creating a Friendly AI? In this way OpenCog's system of balancing > attachment and experience could also be linked with broader compassion. > Possibly in the implication links, while disassociating happiness with > "put_arm_around_girlfriend" > and adding an implication that happiness for girlfriend includes > separation from Bob. That possibly hints at way of formulating ethics for > A.I. > > -Chris > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Ben Goertzel <[email protected]> > *To:* AGI <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Wednesday, May 1, 2013 1:24 AM > *Subject:* [agi] Toward enlightened AGIs > > For your general amusement, here is a blog post I rote on > > "The dynamics of attachment and non-attachment in human and AGI minds": > > > http://multiverseaccordingtoben.blogspot.hk/2013/05/the-dynamics-of-attachment-and-non.html > > :) > ben > > > -- > Ben Goertzel, PhD > http://goertzel.org > > "My humanity is a constant self-overcoming" -- Friedrich Nietzsche > > > ------------------------------------------- > AGI > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/20347893-f72b365c > Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com > > > *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> > <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/5037279-a88c7a6d> | > Modify<https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;>Your Subscription > <http://www.listbox.com> > ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-f452e424 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-58d57657 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
