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As a person who is intelligent and plain there was a time I'd have agreed with you but if I look at my own preferences in a partner I'm ashamed to say I want fanciability as much as I want intelligence.

Also, if you are plain, there's far more skill in getting an attractive/more attractive partner than yourself than when an attractive person does it ie you use your intelligence to get what others have to use just their looks for.

As regards the discussion of altruism earlier, George Price is a little-known but very interesting person and this is a very good book about him. He was probably on the autistic spectrum somewhere:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Price-Of-Al ... 555&sr=8-1

"When George Price died in January 1975, his funeral in London was attended by five homeless men. Alongside them were Bill Hamilton and John Maynard Smith, two distinguished British evolutionary biologists. All seven men had come to mourn an eccentric American genius who helped to unpick the riddle of how altruism, or unselfish concern for the welfare of others, could exist in a world driven by survival of the fittest and who committed suicide aged just 52.

In The Price of Altruism Price's personal and professional journey is intricately woven into a sweeping arc of modern politics and science that takes us from Darwin's Beagle to the court of the Russian Tsar, from Marxist manifestos to Nazi heresies, and from First World War trenches to Vietnam demonstrations. Featuring some of the most brilliant minds of the modern age, it is the riveting tale of mankind's search for the origins of kindness."

Trying to prove the existence of altruism for it's own sake drove him mad basically.

I like finding out about aspie-like characters who've made great discoveries.

We've already figured out why altruism exists, it exists for selfish reasons lol. Very ironic.

I'm not sure how what you said though contradicts what I said? Or maybe it wasn't supposed to? Would you argue against that intelligence is, in the wake of being able to ignore the effects of attractiveness, the better trait in the end?

And imagine that this would be ESPECIALLY true after we invent prosthetic faces.

I personally think you can be altruistic for it's own sake - I try and do it because it's the right thing to do

It does have a function as if you help someone they are more likely to help you back but you can help someone just because you like helping people ie not for any reward

Obviously intelligence is the most important thing but aesthetics is a whole area in itself and can't be so easily dismissed in my opinion

Look at great figurative art for example - are you saying that's all a waste of time as based a lot of the time on the attractiveness of the model?

It'll be useless big time when we're running around Ghost in the Shell style (aka full body prosthesis). And the sooner the better I say! And INTELLIGENCE is what's gonna get us there faster!

I don't want a body prosthesis - what is the idea behind it?

A synthetic body, essentially. A synthetic body would mean that you could replace damaged organs, have organs that are superior to natural ones, choose your own facial appearance, skin tone, etc. You could be stronger, healthier, simply MORE than what you are now. I can hardly wait! Although I might not live to see this technology, we've already made great strides. We've got synthetic hearts!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_heart

It's only a matter of time before we can leave behind our inferior Nature-crafted bodies for superior man-made ones...

It's ok for people whose bodies don't work properly but I'm attached to mine even if it isn't perfect

You seem to imply you don't think you're ok as you are

I've had a taste of this already by gong on 'Second Life' where you get to create your own avatar. I went speed dating on Second Life and got a lot of male attention (my male friend had created my avatar so she was very appealing to men lol) and I could see that
with better looks this would happen to me in real life but part of me hated it - it felt very false.

That's like saying that just because your car works properly you shouldn't want a Ferrari. The reality is that I see my body for precisely what it is: A fleshy vessel designed to contain, transport, and nourish my brain. That's it, that is all it is to me. Nothing more.

Lol but I wouldn't want a Ferrari - I don't need to be top of the range to be happy, just functional

I like my body - it's me and it's unique and other people have liked/like it too

Is this connected with you having a bad body image do you think?

I don't really have much to complain about. I'm just a bit of a futurist, and I'm also eager for the ugly, deformed, crippled, injured, etc to have the chance to not have to be defined by what they lack physically, and be seen only by the wonders of their minds and personalities.

Plus, the chance to hop into a hot female body and have hot lesbian sex is just too much to resist!

I see what you mean from that point of view but there's a lot of people who don't have very interesting personalities so if you make them all attractive the ones with interesting personalities will still be more popular so how are you going to mitigate for that?

Once you start tinkering to change people where do you stop?

We already tinker with ourselves endlessly. Where to stop? Wherever we want. Imagine how happy furries would be with actual animal bodies housing a human brain.

As for people with the best personalities being the most popular, I see nothing wrong with that, I imagine it would drive the sourpusses to self-improve instead of having a world where people focus on being hot at the expense of their minds.

I do see a danger in beauty losing it's charm though: What is beauty without the ugly to contrast it with? Maybe it'll just result in a greater diversity of beauty.

You need to read 'Harrison Bergeron' by Kurt Vonnegut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

Several films have been made of the story too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmEOI5zwFMM

I've read that story before! Only thing is, in this story everyone is equally crap. I'd rather everyone be equally awesome.

It wouldn't work in practice though

Is the lad in that film Sam Gangee in Lord of the Rings? I was thinking where have I seen him before?? and I've just realised! It's Sam!

I haven't seen the film, but I did read the short story. In the end, I imagine that true equality won't really happen, but technology can still do wondrous things for us, and we shouldn't ignore the things full body prosthesis could do for us. Imo it's simply the next stage in our evolution.

[edit] lol this discussion has gone WAAAAAAAAAAAY into left field from the original topic......