From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Wed Jun 26 2002 - 01:42:25 MDT
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
> Let's cut to the chase. Would you rather that the US invade all
> countries with squalid dictatorships in an attempt to impose order? Or
> would you prefer to maintain international stability before the
> Singularity and hope that not too many people die? Both options are
> morally uncomfortable, and I'm starting to get fed up with people's
> inability to confront uncomfortable choices, so I cynically predict that
> most people on this list will advocate some halfhearted ineffective
> technological solution which couldn't be implemented for another ten
> years as a surrogate for confronting either of these two options
> directly. Incidentally, are any of you under the illusion that by
> arguing about this, you are "doing something"?
>
Good. No, I am under no such illusion (delusion?). I don't
agree these are the only two choices though. And I don't want
the US doing the first or anything like it. I don't think
"squalid dictatorships' are the meat of the problem. I think
the world writing off great masses of humanity as expendable is
a big problem. I believe that selling arms to what squalid
dictatorships and bitter situations that exist, cynically for
profit without a care in the world for the people of the region,
is a big problem. I believe in the short run, especially with a
near-term bonanza of health, long-life, wealth, transhumanism
and so on in store, that saving as many people as possible is
the strong moral choice. I don't think that we are so poor that
we can't save an awful lot of people from starvation and disease
deaths without slowing down the Singularity.
I lean toward the extreme position that not caring enough to
make major efforts to save these people betrays a deep ethical
and moral flaw that is likely to make our Singularity a
super-powered Hell if we get there at all and is more likely the
type of flaw that will mark us always too unimaginative and too
uncaring to even get there before we destroy ourselves. I
certainly see little evidence generally that uploading most of
us will result in much more than dangerously over-powered
slightly evolved apes running amok.
- samantha
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