The scientific method is objective. This is the best epistemic tool we have to discover what is true and what is false.
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Morality aside, I am not sure we'll ever move up on the Kardashev scale. Unless we drop the ancient myths and embrace science and technology. You are an MD and you are against stem cell research, a case in point. Imagine what all other less educated simpletons think
of science.
For the record I am not opposed to stem cell research in general. I am opposed to human embryonic stem cell research for reasons we have discussed ad infinitum.
The scientific method can only tell you what you can do. It will never tell you what you should do. You want to advance civilization on the Kardashev scale. Ok why do you want to do that? This is your judgement of our species.
Me, me, me. Humanity is a plague.
I think you hit the nail on the head with this quote describing both the problem and the source of the problem which is not a lack of science but a lack of selflessness. There certainly is goodness in humanity worth preserving yet it is not at all unreasonable to describe us as you do.
Technological progress up the Kardashev scale does nothing to solve the problem. In fact it makes the problem worse by spreading it out farther and giving us more power to use unwisely. Transforming us from a plague upon the earth into an eternal plague upon the universe does not strike me as an admirable purpose.
Our purpose must be something more then simple propagation or genetic success as that road is clearly a dead end. The writing is already on the wall that our technological progress will soon obsolete our genetics.
Reproductive strategy is likely to become essentially irrelevant for humanity, possibly within our lifetimes. It seems inevitable that our existing biological bodies will give way to different forms that will carry us off-planet. At that point, allowing and enabling all individuals to thrive in a constructive environment becomes paramount. What then is the protocol that keeps that freedom from becoming destructive? Of course, my thinking is that the protocol is outlined in the Christian bible.
The only solution to the problem of humanity is for us all to strive for selflessness which also requires us to be superrational. Our species is very bad at that.
See:
Superrationality and
See:
Multiverse Wide CooperationReligion is the only thing capable of rectifying mankind. It is also the only force that can somewhat mitigate our selfishness problem on this earth.