From: Dan Hook (dhook@andrew.cmu.edu)
Date: Tue Aug 08 2000 - 14:55:41 MDT
On Tue, 8 Aug 2000, Alex Future Bokov wrote:
> Yes, but even if we took these individuals with us, and some enclaves got
> wiped out by them, there would still be some that wouldn't. As long as
> we're on just one world all our eggs are in one basket. It doesn't even
> have to be a disease or nuclear catastrophe that destroys us. It can be
> something as subtle as cultural stagnation... or a particularly tenacious
> world-wide ruling class. Globaly, as well as locally, it is increasingly
> necessary to decentralize, distribute, and diversify.
Along with the capacity for interstellar travel comes the possibility of
interstellar weaponry. Granted, it would be a lot easier to wipe out the
local community, just like most muderously deranged individuals today
target their family, fellow employees, or school. But we are talking
about insanity targetted against all of humanity. Leaving earth won't
help. You would have to leave earth and become completely isolated from
the rest of humanity. Even that isn't a complete gurantee.
All in all, I think our best hope will be to bring about the singularity
asap. Human beings can't be trusted with the technologies we have for too
much longer, as painful as that is for me to say.
Dan Hook
"So high, so low, so many things to know." -- V. Vinge
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