Bernardo Kastrup, PhD, PhD🔒 SSL Verified

Table of Contents

• ↓ On human dignity: The difference between value and importance
• ↓ Rupert Sheldrake's rejoinder
• ↓ Response to Rupert Sheldrake's criticisms of Analytic Idealism
• ↓ The wrong reasons to believe in Analytic Idealism, or me
• ↓ The true, hidden origin of the so-called 'Hard Problem of Consciousness'
• ↓ The illusion of AI understanding and creativity
• ↓ Top Alternatives to bernardokastrup.com

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"It is cliché to say that we are living through a period of drastic historical change: every period reflects the perennial ebb and flow of history, nothing ever remaining static. But sometimes this change is extraordinary in both intensity and impact. And if any historical junction deserves such a characterisation, it is the one we are living through right now. For a number of never-before-seen dynamics that stand to dramatically impact human life are converging: Artificial Intelligence (AI) will drastically change the way we work and look upon ourselves; geopolitical tensions and, almost certainly, related armed conflict at a global scale will again challenge the international order and upset countless human lives; the rise of post-truth and conspiracy-theory mentality will continue to profoundly upset our culture and information space; and in-your-face climate change will render large swaths of the planet uninhabitable for humans, leading to dramatic demographic shifts."

"In this context of extraordinary change we must be extra careful and vigilant about how we define and look upon human dignity. For it is how we regard ourselves that sets the tone for whether the changes that are coming will tip towards something positive or vastly negative instead. For instance, the way we look upon ourselves will determine whether AI developments will equate us to mere mechanisms that are being rendered increasingly redundant, or creative miracles who will be set freer by the advent of AI. It is how we regard ourselves that will determine whether we care for the millions of Bangladeshis and Dutch whose homes will be flooded by higher sea levels once land ice in Greenland and Antartica melts (which will happen rather suddenly), or regard them merely as cattle that needs to be relocated to some tent camp somewhere dry."

"The way we define human dignity is the crux of the matter here, and the common underlying theme that informs all of the converging dynamics cited above. What is it that makes human life valuable? What is it that makes it important? If you think these two questions are synonymous, then that is already an alarming misunderstanding that may determine whether we are all going to hell in a hand basket. For value and importance are two entirely different things, particularly when it comes to human lives."

"We often associate both our value and importance with what we do in life. To convince yourself of it, just ask yourself if you think that someone who does nothing for a living is either important or valuable. Work or activity is tightly linked to our sense of dignity, and it has been so for a very long time. Therefore, it is crucial that we approach how activity determines our dignity in an examined, careful manner. It is crucial that we understand the relationship between activity and value on the one hand, and activity and importance on the other."

Key Topics & Focus Areas for bernardokastrup.com:

On human dignity: The difference between value and importance

Rupert Sheldrake's rejoinder

Response to Rupert Sheldrake's criticisms of Analytic Idealism

The wrong reasons to believe in Analytic Idealism, or me

The true, hidden origin of the so-called 'Hard Problem of Consciousness'

The illusion of AI understanding and creativity