ISSHS Introduction
With the threat of the suppression, alteration, and/or elimination of quintessential human qualities posed by looming technological developments, the topics presented at Nissim.com were authored to investigate the feasibility of establishing one or more "Isolated Self-Sustaining Human Sanctuaries" (ISSHS) that may serve to preserve and nurture the romantic animal in a human-scaled, primitive-technology, principally agricultural, close-knit joie de vivre community of multi-generational families, in coexistence with a natural environment.
In collaboration with Anthropic's Claude AI, "quintessential human qualities" are defined as the interplay, nurtured by a close-knit joie de vivre community of multi-generational families, of instinctual algorithms and moderate intelligence expressing itself as romantic sensibility and behavior
Claude: "When faced with superintelligent AI, viewing "reason" or "intelligence" as humanity's defining characteristic becomes meaningless. Any intellectual capability we possess will be drastically surpassed. This forces us to look at what makes humans distinctly human, rather than just intelligent." ... "The quintessential human qualities definition captures something unique about human species identity: The specific balance of instinct and moderate intelligence. The romantic sensibility that emerges from this balance. The social structures that nurture and maintain this balance. This isn't just one possible way of being human - it's what distinguishes humans as a species."
This understanding frames both what humanity risks losing and what the ISSHS concept aims to preserve as technological advances accelerate, raising fundamental questions about maintaining authentic human nature in an increasingly artificial world.
The website explores the broader context through interconnected topics addressing: human transformation (dehumanization of technological scale, transhumanism, posthumanism); societal challenges (labor displacement, universal subsistence support, population implosion); artificial superintelligence (ASI) considerations (potential, motivation, tolerance of humanity); and fundamental questions about consciousness, free will, and the nature of advanced intelligences. The expanded examination provides the theoretical foundation and urgency underlying the ISSHS initiative.
Origins in 1970: Early Recognition of Future Challenges
The conceptual foundations for the ISSHS initiative emerged in 1970 through the manuscript "Beyond The Human Animal," later retitled "Beyond The Romantic Animal" (BTRA).
Foundational to the early work was the visual depiction of three overlapping bell curves representing the animal kingdom, humans, and the next entities in Earth's evolutionary path. The overlapping portions illustrated the impact of one on the other, with the decline in one being better appreciated in the context of the rise of the other.
This model captures a profound pattern: just as humanity's rise has fundamentally altered the animal kingdom, by contrast to the dehumanization of technological scale, the rise of artificial superintelligence and advanced technologies will extinguish what is quintessentially human. The overlapping curves suggest not just succession but transformation - each new dominant form changes the nature of what came before.
The bell curve nature of humanity's journey may be illustrated in cultural expressions such as dance. Early human dances involved jumping to drumbeats, similar to contemporary electronic dance music. Between these points, humanity danced to the waltz - a balanced expression of human qualities, integrating instinctual movement with cultural sophistication, physical presence with social structure."
Three observations from this early work illuminate key aspects of humanity's technological trajectory:
"Despite our romanticism we cannot exert our will on the future for the new era does not belong to us, no more than our era belongs to the ape." BTRA page 6 September 2, 1970.
Just as primates could not have conceived or directed human civilization, our limited cognitive framework prevents us from truly comprehending or controlling the nature of our successors, making our attempts at directing their development inherently flawed.
"We are producing and marketing technology at a greater rate than we are developing the required ethical framework with which to operate the technology." BTRA page 65, July 27, 1975.
The acceleration gap between technological capability and ethical understanding may be an inevitable feature of the transition period, as we create systems that will eventually operate on principles beyond our current moral frameworks.
"To truly understand the voyage of our species through time we must understand the future. The present is not only being pushed by the past it is also being pulled by the future." BTRA page 63, May 18, 1971.
The emergence of superintelligent successors represents an inevitable destiny that shapes human development, unconsciously drawing us toward decisions and developments that facilitate their eventual arrival and dominance.
The Challenge and Need
Humanity faces unprecedented challenges to its essential nature. These manifest in two primary categories of threat. First are technological developments that directly challenge human nature: widespread labor displacement stripping meaning from daily life; AI-enabled humanoid robots blurring authentic and artificial interaction; Artificial General Intelligence questioning cognitive uniqueness; technological and genetic engineering promising to "enhance" fundamental nature; brain-computer interfaces mediating direct experience; virtual/augmented reality substituting artificial experiences; and transhumanist initiatives aiming to transcend human limitations.
The second category includes existential threats that could dehumanize surviving humans: Artificial Superintelligence potentially reducing humanity to a subordinate role; global pandemics forcing extreme social isolation; nuclear warfare threatening environmental context; and catastrophic climate change severing connection to natural cycles. The continued emphasis on unbridled technological exploitation threatens to transform humanity into an entity humanistically distinct from Homo sapiens.
ISSHS Design Principles
The ISSHS initiative pursues a path responsive to humanity's core needs, redirecting purpose and meaning toward family, community, and joie de vivre. This approach requires accepting more limited but potentially more fulfilling existence, finding beauty and meaning within natural constraints. It emphasizes rich inner lives and social bonds over external achievements, valuing human consciousness and connection to the natural world as worth preserving even as humanity creates entities surpassing raw intelligence.
Many beneficial features would emerge organically from the ISSHS structure. Physical fitness would develop naturally through agricultural work and daily tasks. Mental health would benefit from natural rhythms, strong social connections, and clear sense of purpose. Education would occur through apprenticeship and direct participation. Social cohesion would emerge from shared work and mutual interdependence.
The ISSHS concept is foundationally dependent on the synergistic integration of (i) primitive human-scale technologies and (ii) the adaptation of modern concepts and understanding to the limited capabilities of the isolated ISSHS. The ISSHS concept rejects attempts at partial adoption of advanced technologies inconsistent with the self-sustaining objectives of the ISSHS.
The idea that we can simply keep the "good" parts of advanced technologies while discarding the "bad" overlooks how deeply integrated modern technologies shapes our entire way of being and living together. This recognition drives the ISSHS commitment to technological limitation.
A Timely Sanctuary That Is Not a Zoo
The distinction between sanctuary and zoo illuminates the ISSHS approach to human preservation. A zoo, however well-intentioned, fundamentally alters its inhabitants' nature through artificial environments and controlled conditions. The ISSHS concept instead aims to preserve the conditions necessary for authentic human experience and development.
The parallel to wild animals in captivity proves instructive. A lion in a zoo may be well-fed and protected, but loses the very qualities that make it leonine. Similarly, transhumans preserved in technological comfort would have lost the challenges and limitations that shaped our species' unique characteristics. The ISSHS avoids artificial environments that make life easier but less authentic, and is intended to maintain the conditions that allow genuine human nature to flourish.
Beyond The Romantic Animal (BTRA) also warned that:
"the superstructure will be kind to humanity for when she is about to die it will give her a fine place to spend the last years in the small wooden house with vines and tomatoes. But by then it will be too late for humanity to have evolved beyond it will not know or understand the significance of the strange things." BTRA page 35, November 11, 1970.
The warning suggests that by the time this hoped-for kindness is offered to what remains of humanity - 'a small wooden house with vines and tomatoes,' the metaphorical ISSHS concept - humanity will have evolved beyond recognition, no longer able to even comprehend the significance of what has been lost or the meaning of maintaining authentic human experience. Attempts at preservation after such fundamental transformation would be futile.
The Dehumanization Threats
Each evolving technological development poses specific challenges to human nature. The displacement of human labor by AI systems and robots threatens more than economic stability - it strikes at the core of human dignity and purpose. Agricultural and craftwork, which have historically connected human effort directly to survival and creation, face replacement by passive consumption. When human labor becomes largely obsolete, the connection between effort and reward, fundamental to human psychological development, becomes increasingly abstract and artificial.
The increasing mediation of human experience through technological interfaces fundamentally alters our way of being in the world. Direct human-to-human interaction yields to digital communication, physical presence to virtual proximity. The constant presence of technology fragments attention and disrupts natural cognitive processes, compromising capacity for deep focus and authentic social connection.
Genetic engineering and transhumanist initiatives to "enhance" human capabilities threaten to alter the foundation of human nature. Attempts to "improve" evolved characteristics risk disrupting the delicate balance between instinct and intelligence that defines humanity. Such modifications would create unprecedented divisions within our species, potentially splitting humanity into enhanced and unenhanced populations.
Pervasive surveillance and algorithmic social control systems eliminate authentic human behavior through constant observation and evaluation. AI-driven social credit systems lead to the internalization of artificial behavioral standards, replacing genuine human interaction with programmed responses designed to satisfy monitoring systems.
The increasing separation from the natural environment threatens fundamental connection to the rhythms and cycles that shaped human evolution. Artificial environments and digital interfaces create a bubble of existence divorced from the natural world, diminishing capacity for wonder and understanding of natural limitations.
Advanced technologies for influencing human thought and behavior compromise authentic decision-making and emotional response. These systems exploit evolved psychological mechanisms in ways that bypass conscious awareness, creating unprecedented control over human thought and behavior that diminishes genuine agency and experience.
The integration of AI systems into decision-making creates dependency that atrophies human judgment. As AI capabilities expand, humans increasingly defer to artificial judgment rather than developing their own cognitive capabilities, leading to learned helplessness where they lose confidence in their ability to understand and influence their environment.
Happiness Versus Contentment
The ISSHS environment fosters contentment over transient happiness through stable social structures, predictable rhythms of agricultural life, and strong community bonds. While modern technological society offers frequent opportunities for happiness through novel experiences and achievements, it often undermines the deeper contentment that emerges from stable community bonds, clear social roles, and direct engagement with natural processes.
The distinction between happiness and contentment proves crucial for understanding the ISSHS approach. Rather than pursuing the peaks of experience enabled by technological advancement, the ISSHS creates conditions for sustained satisfaction through meaningful work, authentic relationships, and connection to natural cycles. This emphasis on contentment aligns with evolved human nature and supports long-term psychological well-being.
The Cost of Preservation
The ISSHS concept entails significant sacrifices, particularly regarding medical capabilities. Communities would lack access to advanced medical technologies, complex pharmaceutical processes, and current anesthetics and pain-attenuating medications. The shift from high-income to low-income society levels of medical care implies increased maternal mortality from less than 1 per 1,000 live births to 10-15 per 1,000, and neonatal mortality from 3-4 per 1,000 to 60-90 per 1,000.
These statistics raise fundamental questions about the preservation of human qualities versus technological advancement. While pioneering ISSHS inhabitants would consciously accept these risks, subsequent generations born within the ISSHS would experience them as natural conditions rather than sacrifices. This transition in perspective reflects broader questions about authentic human experience versus technological mitigation of natural limitations.
ISSHS Embodiments
The ISSHS concept encompasses three implementation scales, each addressing different aspects of human preservation. Small-scale communities of 500-5,000 inhabitants focus on agricultural self-sufficiency and primitive technology. Multiple independent communities may exist in cooperative relationships, each adapted to particular circumstances while maintaining essential isolation from technological society.
Medium-scale implementations feature a central light industry and medical services core supporting multiple surrounding ISSHS units. The core facility houses 2,000-5,000 specialized workers and families, supporting 10-20 satellite communities within 1-3 days' travel. This arrangement enables total system populations of 25,000-100,000 inhabitants while maintaining human-scaled communities. The industrial core operates under strict technological limitations, permitting basic metallurgy, simple machine tools, basic pharmaceutical production, medical equipment sterilization, glass production, elementary chemical processes, and mechanical power from water wheels and windmills. The prohibition of electronics, internal combustion engines, advanced communications, and synthetic materials maintains technological boundaries essential to ISSHS principles.
Nation-state implementation represents the most comprehensive application of ISSHS principles. While historical attempts at technological limitation have generally failed, increasing pressures from AI labor displacement and technological dehumanization may make this approach viable for certain societies. A complete ISSHS nation would require disconnection from global digital infrastructure, transition to primitive-technology agricultural and manufacturing base, reorganization into human-scaled community units, development of alternative medical and educational systems, and establishment of natural barriers to technological reintegration.
Nation-state implementation faces distinct challenges in managing transition from technological dependence, maintaining diplomatic relations while preserving isolation, defending against external pressures for technological adoption, and ensuring internal cohesion during transformation. However, as AI and automation increasingly displace human labor and traditional social structures, some societies might conclude that competing in the global technological race becomes futile. An ISSHS nation-state could provide structured alternative offering population purpose, dignity, and authentic human experience.
The ISSHS Feasibility Study
Investigating the feasibility of establishing at least one Isolated Self-Sustaining Human Sanctuary (ISSHS) represents an unprecedented scientific and technological pursuit toward designing humane comfortable self-sustenance. A proposed feasibility study would challenge conventional notions of human comfort and fulfillment, suggesting that many perceived needs stem more from technological and economic pursuits than genuine requirements for a fulfilling life.
The study would emphasize comprehensive planning to ensure sustainable basic needs through implementable technologies, incorporating historical and current practices in agriculture, healthcare, and sanitation adapted to ISSHS capabilities. While primarily presuming isolation from external support, it considers scenarios including potential ASI guardianship and addresses the fundamental question of whether an ISSHS can transcend hunter-gatherer existence to become a viable agricultural sanctuary using essential primitive technologies.
The distinction between "self-sufficient" and "self-sustaining" is crucial, with the latter focusing on long-term generational perpetuation without external resources. The ISSHS aims for true self-sustainability, acknowledging the complex challenges of unforeseen events, resource limitations, and knowledge gaps that might necessitate currently unavailable external interaction.
The study will establish a framework for an encyclopedic set of ISSHS requirements and operational instructions, covering everything from pioneer requirements and launch preparations to population maintenance, healthcare practices, and knowledge preservation methods. This comprehensive guide must be both exhaustive and accessible, providing clear guidance while allowing adaptation to local conditions, all preserved and transmitted using only primitive technologies available to the sanctuary.
The initiative emphasizes that while utilizing primitive technologies, the ISSHS is not against technology per se, but requires human-scaled technological solutions forming a synergistic whole, maintainable with limited resources and consistent with preserving quintessential human qualities. This approach creates opportunities for innovative technological development focused on enhancing rather than diminishing human nature, distilling modern scientific understanding into simpler, human-scaled applications.
The feasibility study encourages contributions from similarly motivated individuals. While funding may be sought, the emphasis is on collaborative development of both the feasibility study and the encyclopedic library by those who share the vision, whether or not they intend to inhabit an ISSHS. The initiative represents not a rejection of reason and science, but rather their judicious application to enhance human well-being and flourishing along a different path toward a more humane future.
The Question of ASI Tolerance
The relationship between artificial superintelligence and ISSHS illuminates fundamental questions about human value. If ASI fails to recognize the inherent worth of preserving authentic human consciousness and experience as manifested in ISSHS - with its complex interplay of instinctual drives, moderate intelligence, romantic sensibility, and deep social bonds shaped by evolution - then claims about ASI valuing any version of humanity become suspect.
ASI's potential benevolence toward humanity would seem to require recognition of quintessential human qualities in their unmodified form, as these represent the core of human consciousness and experience. An ASI viewing these qualities as dispensable or merely instrumental would, by extension, view all forms of human existence as similarly expendable. The ISSHS model therefore serves not only as a means of preservation but as a test case for ASI's genuine valuation of human nature.
Conclusion: A Choice for Humanity
The ISSHS concept represents a considered response to dehumanizing pressures of technological advancement. By creating spaces where human nature expresses itself authentically, it offers a path to preserve quintessential qualities without attempting to resist or compete with broader technological transformation.
The success of such sanctuaries depends not on elaborate systems or artificial interventions, but on creating basic conditions allowing human nature to flourish naturally. As humanity faces an increasingly uncertain technological future, establishing such communities may prove crucial for preserving not just human beings, but authentic human experience.
The future of humanity lies not in uniformity but in choice. While some portions of humanity may pursue technological enhancement and transformation, the ISSHS concept ensures the preservation of an alternative path - one that maintains our essential nature as evolved, romantic beings capable of finding meaning within natural limitations. This preservation of choice may prove as important as the preservation of human qualities themselves.
The establishment of ISSHS communities represents more than a retreat from technology - it embodies an affirmation of human nature in its authentic form. By maintaining spaces where quintessential human qualities can continue to express themselves, these sanctuaries preserve not just a way of life, but the very essence of what makes us human.