Why are the only footprints on the moon human?
After all, life on our planet’s had 3,700,000,000 years to get to the moon. Yet it only did so 54 years ago, when we reached it. Why? Two reasons.
Universality
Unlike every other animal, we can extend our abilities without limit. We can think and do anything that is physically possible, once we figure out how. That’s why it was possible in principle for us to reach the moon.
Efficiency
We can efficiently find good ideas and actions, despite the fact they are stupendously outnumbered by bad ideas and actions. That’s why it was possible in practice for us to reach the moon.
Why do human minds possess this unique universality and efficiency? The full answer is still a mystery. Nevertheless, we can break these mammoth mysteries down into more manageable pieces, and that’s the aim of this book.
Are humans really special? Why care?
They are, and I hope to show precisely why. I think our minds are superior to any other animal or algorithm yet discovered. Each individual among us has literally unlimited potential for thought and action. This also makes human civilization uniquely powerful. I think these facts ought to make us optimistic, both as individuals and as a society.
I’m optimistic that, by understanding our minds, we can upgrade them. After all, despite our success in creating tools like paper and computers, we have not upgraded our mental hardware - our brains - in the entire history of our species. While Apple releases a new iPhone every year, we’ve been stuck with the same brain for 300,000 years. It’s embarrassing. And it matters, because upgrades could:
Make death optional - not mandatory
Allow us to create, explore, and inhabit wild new virtual realities
Speed up our thinking, giving us more time to address the dangers of the cosmos
Lastly, you should care about human exceptionalism because it’s so damn interesting. In the attempt to explain it, you’re driven to consider so many different fields and areas of human concern: epistemology, evolution, progress, computation, language, logic, neuroscience, machine learning, and more. After 5+ years of research, I still feel like I’m only just beginning!
What’s next: reading, writing, and remunerating
Reading. I hope to share a new section of the book each week. If you want these delivered to your email, subscribe below:
Writing. I’m always on Twitter, so tweet at me with your encouragement, feedback, questions, and ideas.
Remunerating. My personal savings were enough to support 5 years of full-time research, but now I need your help to continue. To cover my living expenses, I need 200 supporters, but I currently only have 10.
To become the 11th, just click the button above and pick a plan. (The annual plan is best for me, since it provides me with $120 immediately, and my savings are quite low at the moment.)
By supporting me financially, you’ll:
Accelerate the writing of this book, by letting me continue working on it full-time
Fund fundamental, curiosity-driven science
Allow me to share this book freely for anyone to read
Have a well-earned place in the book’s acknowledgements :)
Speaking of acknowledgements, I’d like to thank my supporters!
David Kedmey
Neil Hudson
Daniel Gray
Brad Ingarfield
Gleb Posobin
Brian Joseff
Tom Hyde
Adrien Chauvet
Velimir Gasparovic
James Titchener
You?