From: Michael M. Butler (butler@comp-lib.org)
Date: Sun Feb 18 2001 - 02:00:08 MST
"Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
> > From: "Spike Jones" <spike66@attglobal.net>
> > > "I think it is no exaggeration to say we are on the
> > > cusp of the further perfection of extreme evil."
<snip>
> He's perfectly right. As technology advances, so does evil. The thing to
> understand about Bill Joy is that all the threats he refers to are more or
> less real - it's just Bill Joy's unworkable "remedies" that indicate a
> permanent state of future shock, or maybe future panic would be a better
> term. If aliens landed tomorrow, Bill Joy would scream and run around in
> circles, while the Men in Black would ask the aliens for their passports.
> I try to cultivate an MIB attitude.
Your ID, please? Very nice, now your... OTHER... ID, please.
Bill seems to think his job is to yell fire. Other people will be
yelling "Fore!" Striking the right balance to thread the needle we face
will (as others have said) necessitate answering Mr. Joy's concerns.
He's doing us a favor. Really. Now, people who think he's crystallized
the solution as well as the threat aspect--well, they might have found
Rifkin, who can say?
Spit on our hands, roll up our sleeves, hoist the Jolly Unroger and
start saving throats.
Mike
(ObOverexplain: that last is a reformulation of an old Mencken quote)
(ObOhMyGod: My spellchecker saw "Rifkin" and suggested "Boffin".
Aieeee!)
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