Re: Christian evangelicals colliding with the singularity...

From: Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Date: Mon Mar 06 2000 - 22:27:37 MST


Anders Sandberg wrote:

> Actually, this is where we could improve our memetic artillery... But
> if we ourselves argue for the ethics of our actions, then we can
> acually use this interest in ethics to make people more open to it.

OK let me try one angle:

0) A person is on fire and you are standing by with an extinguisher.
Would you not be saving a life, doing good etc, by putting them out?
Sure, it would be murder to do otherwise.

1) If a person has gotten a snakebite and you are standing there
with a syringe filled with antivenom, what then? Same as above.

2) A person has a disease for which there is a known cure, and
you are a doctor with that cure. How now? Same as above.

3) A person has a disease for which there is no known cure, but
there is good reason to believe there is a cure that can be found
with a minimal amount of research.

You see where I am going with this. At what point is humanity
comfortable saying NO MORE RESEARCH to save lives? At what
point does it become nonmurder to quit searching new cures?

Nanotechnology is a field which promises cures far beyond our
fondest dreams. spike



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