Infant Formula, "Neo-Emotions," and the Incredible Melting Celebrity

When humans come to see nature as lacking any internal activity of her own, they come to view her as an obstacle to realization of their desires, one that can be reshaped without concern (let alone reverence) for any pre-existing reality.

Examples of this thinking abound. One was the infant formula craze of the last century. We were told to believe that a technological concoction was not only an adequate replacement for, but even better than mother's milk. Somehow the medical establishment, along with many of the public, saw nothing incredible about a committee of guys in lab coats outwitting—if not the Infinite wisdom of Alimighty God—then at least millions of years of Almighty Evolution. Now we have ample empirical evidence that breastfeeding is better for babies, but even without such evidence, it is difficult to understand how anyone could think himself wiser than Nature. Do we need further evidence for post-lapsarian darkening of the intellect?

Ah, but our intellects are not so dark that they can't pull themselves up by their own boot-straps! Or at least that's what the transhumanists would have us believe.

Neo-Emotions

One of my hypotheses right now is that emotions often seem irrational to us simply because many of them are outdated to work with modern situations, culture, and technologically-enabled existence. The solution is to develop neo-emotions. A neo-emotional system would take whatever beneficial roles existing emotional systems provide, and extend and modify these roles to better suit the environment. [more...]

Yes, perhaps we can change our emotions to better suit our competitive environment. We'll get rid of pity and love, and replace them with ruthlessness and hatred. Sounds like "Genesis of the Daleks." Or maybe just your NOW feminist.

And we haven't even touched on the weirdest "improvement" on nature : the incredible self-mutilation of Michael Jackson. This would be funny if it weren't true.

1979 (age 21)

The Post-human Future? 2002 (age 44)

A graphic warning for those who think they can outdo nature.