Fear is blinding, hateful, and vengeful. It makes the end justify the means. And why not? If torture can stop the next terrorist attack, the next suicide bomber, then what’s wrong with a little waterboarding or electric shock?

The simple answer is the rule of law. Our Constitution defines the rules that guide our nation. It was drafted by those who looked around the world of the eighteenth century and saw persecution, torture, and other crimes against humanity and believed that America could be better than that. This new nation would recognize that every individual has an inherent right to personal dignity, to justice, to freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.

We have preached these values to the world. We have made clear that there are certain lines Americans will not cross because we respect the dignity of every human being. That pledge was written into the oath of office given to every president, “to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.” It’s what is supposed to make our leaders different from every tyrant, dictator, or despot. We are sworn to govern by the rule of law, not by brute force.

We cannot simply suspend these beliefs in the name of national security. Those who support torture may believe that we can abuse captives in certain select circumstances and still be true to our values. But that is a false compromise. We either believe in the dignity of the individual, the rule of law, and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, or we don’t. There is no middle ground.

We cannot and we must not use torture under any circumstances. We are better than that.”

- Leon Panetta, appointed by President-Elect Obama to be Director of the CIA

I realize that our frailty is part of what makes us human. One observation that I made, however, is that many people want to “transcend” our human condition somehow, whether that be via an afterlife, or Nirvana, or achieving utopia in this life. Transcendence, under most definitions, would most likely involve surpassing our current human condition.

A second observation I made is that being human is inefficient and wasteful. Simply remaining human may in fact lead to our own destruction. That’s why I believe it is urgent to enhance ourselves as soon as technologically possible.

I admit that the consequences of any enhancement to humanity ought to be thought out very carefully beforehand. Personally, I believe that even if we enhance ourselves so that we become *other than* human, we can still experience the same things that humans enjoy, but even better. Living ten times longer doesn’t eliminate my appreciation of the moment; it gives me ten times as many moments to enjoy before I die. It allows me to give back ten times as much to the world. And how much more I could give to the world, if I weren’t constantly tired and grumpy and lazy and forgetful!

Please continue to write. I find what you have to say interesting and provocative.

“The flow of time is always cruel… its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it… A thing that does not change with time is a memory of younger days… Time passes, people move. Like a river’s flow it never ends.”

I don’t like to give love magical-like connotations. I think love towards another person can grow, change form, imply different thing in time, etc. Because people change, see things differently in time and value new things with every new experience as they grow. The love my father feels for my mother is very different and much richer than the love I felt for my first formal girlfriend, for example. I was 18, my vision of life was fairly limited, but I loved her very much, I felt “unquestioning acceptance of the other person, unquestioning dedication to their happiness, and trust beyond trust” (yeah, maybe it was a bit too much for my age but then…) and that was also love, and it should not be underestimated or not-regarded-as love because I was too young or something.

Love is something that is built on time, it starts as fascination towards someone, it grows, changes and can develop into a very rich set of feelings strengthened by particular experiences. It’s hard to pin down as a concept because it just contemplates too many aspects of the human nature, and because it can be different according to the values of the beholder. To try to summarize it seems inadequate. And that just makes it greater, much more interesting and worthy than any “magical” perception of love that people usually has.

We have to be flexible and be very open minded when talking about love and all its forms.