Wednesday, December 1, 2010

generosity

1. The Camus epigraph in Richard Powers' Generosity says what about the future? Kay Jamison says what is contagious?

2. How is our time characterized by a "runaway first person"? What are the "new facts"?

3. Who is "Thomas Kurton"? (Hint: he seems to have much in common with Craig Venter and Ray Kurzweil.)

4. What does Kurton think of "grandeur in this view of life" (etc.)? Does he want to live forever?

5. (T/F) "Drugs that eliminate the need for sleep" and "untraceable performance enhancers" are among the topics treated on "The Genie and the Genome."

6. What is hypomania?

7. What does Thassadit mean? What does "generosity" mean?

8. What's Tomkin's objection to germline engineering and "designer children"? Why does Kurton like it?

9. What are Thassadit's distinctive personal traits, or symptoms?

10. What does Kurton think people would pay $50,000 for?








No comments:

KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News