From: Avatar Polymorph (avatarpolymorph@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Nov 09 2002 - 00:48:54 MST
On Thursday, November 07, 2002 2:50 AM Avatar Polymorph
avatarpolymorph@hotmail.com wrote:
>6.
>LEGISLATE AGAINST THE KILLING OF PARTIALLY
>AWARE ANIMALS SUCH AS APES, DOLPHINS
>AND DOGS IN ORDER TO ALLOW DISCUSSION
>OF THEIR FUTURE STATUS.
Would you include humans and current AI in that list?:)
Cheers!
Dan
See more of my writings at:
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
============
thanks, I'll check out your site in more detail as soon as I have the time,
looks good.
Absolutely I'd include AI in that list (human inclusion follows logically
from the Singularitarian notion of protective shielding or sysop...
I don't think Blue Gene (the supercomputer under construction currently)
could support an AI and I don't think current work approaches an AI. I'd
assume AIs in primitive form (managing/supervising suburbs etc.) would arise
gradually between 2005 and 2020, especially after 2010. Drexler tells us
there will also be high level intelligent molecular supercomputing
engineering networks (not quite AI, but good enough to work out design
problems very quickly).
I once gave Damien Broderick a bit of a turn at a lecture by arguing against
his analogy of producing AI by making 50 and deleting the 48 "failures". I
said it was unethical. Damien is actually a fairly ethical guy, it was funny
however. By a similar logic, it would be unethical to kill a brain-damaged
human in a wheelchair because soon he or she will be able to be fixed up.
Not only is continuity a vital principle of biological ethics but also
potential under particular conditions (as assessed on a case by case basis).
Myself I never eat meat although I'd have no problem with eating vat-grown
meat (in theory, anyhow, possbily I might find it a bit off after all this
time despite anything). I don't have any leather products. I do take cows
milk, and cheese. I buy free range eggs. I definitely don't support killing
higher animals and would prefer them to be injected with long-term
contraceptives where necessary rather than killed. I am especially concerned
with whales, octopi, dogs, apes, chimps and so on (of these our hominid
relatives are the most self-aware).
I once started a petition about point 6 above, before I was ill for a few
years (now I'm just cured, of post-bone marrow transplant lung rejection)...
anyhow, bizarrely enough in bohemia about one in two people signed when
asked. Similarly for a petition I had on lifespan extension (that I
expected... it had a slightly higher "signature rate"). I should get them
going again, these petitions...
Best wishes,
Towards Ascension
Avatar
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