From: Zero Powers (zero_powers@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Jul 27 2002 - 02:01:29 MDT
>From: Damien Broderick <d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au>
>Their main graphic is a spike. :)
>
>The executive summary does not mention the term `singularity', alas.
I searched the whole report. Not a single mention of "singularity." But
nonetheless a surprisingly "extropian" report for the feds. These are
indeed heady times. As a for instance, check out this excerpt from page 33:
"People will possess entirely new capabilities for relations with each
other, with machines, and with the institutions of civilization. In some
areas of human life, old customs and ethics will persist, but it is
difficult to predict which realms of action and experience these will be.
Perhaps wholly new ethical principles will govern in areas of radical
technological advance, such as the routine acceptance of
brain implants, political rights for robots, and the ambiguity of death in
an era when people upload aspects of their personalities to the Solar System
Wide Web. Human identity and dignity must be preserved. In the same way in
which machines were built to surpass human physical powers in the industrial
revolution, computers can surpass human memory and computational speed for
designed actions. The ultimate control will remain with humans and human
society. With proper attention to
safeguards, ethical issues, and societal needs, quality of life could
increase significantly."
"Solar System Wide Web," no less. You gotta love that!
-Zero
"I'm a seeker too. But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help thinking
that somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man.
Has to be." -- George Taylor _Planet of the Apes_ (1968)
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