Cybert,

You have made yourself a eunuch, not for the Kingdom of God or to better serve a Chinese Emperor or his harem, but to keep "an eye single to the glory of the Singularity."  

Unless you are a scientist or engineer in a Singularity related field, I don't fully understand why being castrated was so important since you claim it was not for possible life extension benefits.  

Do you have a girlfriend or wife?  And if not, would you have any interest in having one or would that take your focus off the Singularity?  I almost feel like you should start a Transhumanist Order of Monks/Eunuchs which would include special gatherings and rituals, not too mention robes.  Just make sure the organization has grades of membership so entry-level members are not required to be castrated! lol

Best wishes,

John Grigg  
   

When it comes down to it, sex is a worthless pursuit, a dead end in life.
I agree that it's better to focous on more important things in life.

Though I think castration is a bit severe, all it requires is some discipline and a life style change, Impulses can be controlled with practice over time. Also testostrone is an important hormone in the functioning of the brain - spatial awareness, short-term memory.

When it comes down to it, sex is a worthless pursuit, a dead end in life.
I agree that it's better to focous on more important things in life.

Though I think castration is a bit severe, all it requires is some discipline and a life style change, Impulses can be controlled with practice over time. Also testostrone is an important hormone in the functioning of the brain - spatial awareness, short-term memory.

Any good studies on the long and short-term effects of male (human) castration?

Here's a pubmed search link;

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Search&db=PubMed&term=castration%20human%20male

Sure sex can be a distraction, but it is also normally reasonably fun. I personally don't see the point of sacrificing enjoyable parts of the human condition, for an apparent stability gain.

There are plenty of negative things I would be quite happy in losing, most of the aging and disease parts could go. But why get rid of something I enjoy, how is that making me better?

Marduk - I don't think it's the act of sex itself that is the problem, but the active pursuit of it that is wastefull.

Some people spend a lot of wasted effort for this ritual.

Even the pursuit of the act can be enjoyable, though I freely admit not all the time!

It is a biological imperitive for all live to reproduce and all biological life expends energy in doing so. There may be occassions when temporarily lowering the sex drive may be a good idea. Removing it all together seems a backward step.

Sure I may waste time looking at a nice backside in a tight pair of jeans, I also make sure I work harder to provide for my partner and children. It all swings and roundabouts. Anyway wasting time looking at a nice backside in a tight pair of jeans, makes me happy! The happier I am the more productive, well that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!

"Only difference is no liquid comes out."

Wait a minute. My bogometer just twitched.

Most of the fluid emissions of the penis, aside from urine, come from the prostate and cowper glands. These glands are entirely outside of the scrota.

Yes, some fluid would probably have to come out.  It would be similar to men who get vasectomies.  They would ejaculate, but the fluid would have no sperm

Umm, wouldn't it make more sense to harness your sex drive and point it towards what you deem productive? I can't imagine voluntary castration, that's just ridiculous. Unless you deliberately want to remove yourself from the gene pool. Doesn't sex drive drive you to be passionate about life itself in a lot of ways? Sure there are mental pleasures, but there's also the physical too. And the spiritual (spiritual != religious) pleasures. Hell, I felt bad when I neutered my cat.

I don't see why some transhumanists find it necessary to hack away at the human condition. The singularity and related technological advances should serve humanity, should be personally empowering and liberating rather than be a new form of oppression and repression. I don't wish to attack you personally, however, Cybert, I completely respect your decision.

Here's a quote from one of James Hughes' articles that is related to castration;

"Another powerful cognitive therapy is suppression of that notorious toxin, testosterone. Suppressing testosterone, either through castration or hormone treatments, dramatically reduces repeat offenses in sex offenders, while significantly enhancing the victimizer's quality of life, no longer plagued by violent and shameful thoughts. Castration is also a demonstrated life extender for men, and one of the more extreme body modifications growing in popularity.

The Buddhist tradition appears to frown on castration, as eunuchs are barred from ordination. But Jesus appears to encourage castration for Christian men of stout heart. In Matthew 19:10-12, where the disciples ask if it is okay to marry, Jesus replies: "All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."

So perhaps, at least for Christians, testosterone suppression could be one of the technological assists for ethical behavior."

taken from;

"Technologies of Self-perfection : What would the Buddha do with nanotechnology and psychopharmaceuticals?
By James Hughes"

Yes excess testosterone is negative, causing aggression. However, having to little is also a hormonal inbalance and can be just as negative.

I don't really see any attempt to supress a natural sex drive as good thing. There are those who have either excessive sex drives or whose preffered sexual choice is so far from the norm that it is damaging, who could benefit from a reduction.

I respect most of James Hughes views, but on the benefits of repressing sexuality (which only really seems aimed at men - hey luckily women have sex drives as well!) I am not convinced.

Anyone who makes such a radical stance, as Cybert, should be respected as long as they are aware of the consequences. One question for Cybert: So what happens if your girlfirend, decides she wants children, if you don't have them already?

This may be a separate debate;

Under what pretenses should it be ethical to create a human being that is designed to suffer?

Most of us would consider it unethical to create a clone of ourselves so that we could use "it" as spare parts. How is this different from humanity seeking to continue it's own legacy by creating more (Darwinian) humans?

There is a world of difference between creating clones and having children. People very rarely have children, just to cannibalise them for spare parts.

If we do not reproduce as a species, then we would cease to exist. While there are good reasons for creating clones, there are no essential reasons for them - they are not vital for our existance (which is lucky since we can't clone humans yet).

Yes part of the human condition requires suffering (at least from an individuals viewpoint), alieviating this suffering is part of what makes our lives worth while.

Some observations on castration and how it relates to Singulatarianism....

Abolitionist, castration is not completely condoned in Christianity... for some humorous proof of this, check here out this link

http://thebricktestament.com/the_law/male_genital_injury/dt23_01a.html

"When it comes down to it, sex is a worthless pursuit, a dead end in life.  I agree that it's better to focous on more important things in life."

I find this a very interesting statement.  Sex is pleasure and experience, and potentially a growth opportunity as well (some would even call it spiritual).  While some might argue that one pursuit is more important than another, essentially we are all seeking to justify our existence by finding worth in what we experience and accomplish.  If sex (and/or the pursuit of such) is a meaningful experience to an individual, then it is a worthwhile pursuit in life for that individual.  We can't argue that sex is meaningless any more than we can argue that, say, improving the human condition or learning about the universe is meaningless.  We find meaning in what is meaningful to us.

So if you find sex meaningless and distracting, or suffer chemical imbalance as a result of having testicles - or if you just don't like them balls hangin' down there - then by all means, snip away.  This does not, however, mean that castration is the "better way" - it simply means that you choose it as "your way", nothing more.

I suppose, ultimately, the castration issue aside, what I am saying is that transhumanism isn't inherently "better", nor is any condition or choice.  Transhumanism, like other developments of thought and perspective, is just a new direction we have the potential to move in.  To suggest otherwise is to simply invent a new form of prejudice.

some related abstracts;

1:  Schutter DJ, Peper JS, Koppeschaar HP, Kahn RS, van Honk J. Related Articles, Links

"Administration of testosterone increases functional connectivity in a cortico-cortical depression circuit."

J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2005 Summer;17(3):372-7.
PMID: 16179660 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

2:  van Honk J, Peper JS, Schutter DJ. Related Articles, Links  

"Testosterone reduces unconscious fear but not consciously experienced anxiety: implications for the disorders of fear and anxiety."

Biol Psychiatry. 2005 Aug 1;58(3):218-25.
PMID: 15939408 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

3:  van Honk J, Schutter DJ, Hermans EJ, Putman P, Tuiten A, Koppeschaar H. Related Articles, Links

"Testosterone shifts the balance between sensitivity for punishment and reward in healthy young women."

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2004 Aug;29(7):937-43.
PMID: 15177710 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

4:  Schutter DJ, van Honk J. Related Articles, Links  

"Decoupling of midfrontal delta-beta oscillations after testosterone administration."

Int J Psychophysiol. 2004 Jun;53(1):71-3. No abstract available.
PMID: 15172137 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

I stumbled onto a disturbing transhumanist idea I'd rather leave alone. But if I left it alone, it might gain momentum in the transhumanist, singulatarian, um, "community." While I doubt I'm much of a member of this community, I am...