What is the meaning of altruism?
The true meaning goes beyond the linguistic or encyclopaedic definition. In cybofree, it has been argued that mere satisfaction of the body only instils a false sense of freedom in man.
Can we survive a techno centric existence devoid of love?
Such an idea of an emotionless being is impossible because we cannot exist as humans without love. If love exists, then surely altruism shall exist for all time because love is it’s fount. Human civilization has and shall always owe it’s survival and prosperity on the ability to love and serve each other. Sri Aurobindo 20 has given the vision that the man of the future shall become a full instrument of nature’s intentions. If we accept this view, then we can also accept that the possible evolution of man into a cyborg is also nature’s way of harmoniously balancing the machine world and the human world. Therefore, the cyborg or for that matter, any outcome in the future of man shall be in accordance with the wishes of nature.
It is sometimes difficult to imagine that a good outcome shall come in the future filled with caring human beings/ cyborgs. However, a practice called “Aesthetic realism” proposes a worldview approach that can help us view a different perspective. “If, as Aesthetic realism believes, all the sciences, let alone all the arts, present reality as constituted or shaped aesthetically, reality of the world can that much be liked. Aesthetic Realism does not bid people to like reality; it does bid people to hope to like reality and to do all they can to like it. A seeing of the sciences in their relation and where they begin is a means of seeing the world favourably; with order and surprise.
We may never quite understand why human altruism is so unique or as to why evolutionary theories cannot fully explain it’s complexities. But we know that a “fully rounded human being” is a combined element of “consciousness of principle, good-hearted feeling, an awareness of appearances, and a healthy prudent sense of self-interest”. Therefore, any future outcome of the human being including cyborgs shall still be and continue to be altruistic in their nature even by the time the first contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence is made.
20. Siegel, Eli. Self and World: An explanation of Aesthetic Realism. Excerpt from Aesthetic Realism. 21. Sri Aurobindo. 1990. The future evolution of man. Edited by P.B.Saint Hillaire ISBN 81-7058-219-9. PP: 148. V.R.Manoj is a Research Scholar at the Centre for Environmental Studies, Anna University, India. His area of research is biological wastewater treatment.
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