From: Eliezer Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Sun Dec 01 1996 - 08:23:43 MST
> *VERY* good point! Lets stir up some contravercy shall we? We could take it
> a step further and claim that if christianity considers science satan than
> we could revel in the fact that we're satan worshippers!
No offense here, but I can't help but think that that's the single worst
idea I've heard on this entire mailing list. We'd - no, you'd - lose
all credibility, firmly establish your credentials as a teenage-class
rebellious challenger of the Establishment, and completely confuse the
issue so that you wind up being taken down with the apocalyptic loons.
Let's all remember that the Singularity may well be before 2000, so we
can't get them to claim it will be in 2000 and then watch them be
overtaken by the future. They may be wind up being right! There are a
number of ways to start and sabotage a movement so that they wind up
being rightly regarded by everyone else as apocalyptic loons. But there
are some things to rememeber:
1. Let nanotech and the Singularity be firmly established in everyone's
mind *beforehand*, so that it's the *downside* and not the *whole idea*
that gets thrown out with the loons.
2. Make sure they're not *violent* apocalyptic loons. Make sure they
believe that the Singularity is being brought about by God, so they
don't try to stop it, but prepare for the Great Battle against Satan
without sabotaging nanotech labs. Ensure that they don't try to stop
the Singularity until it's already way too late. Make sure they're more
talk than action.
3. Make sure they sound as ridiculous as possible. Ensure that they
have something to offend everyone who might be tempted to join them.
4. Give them enough publicity to sabotage everyone else's chances.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/singularity.html
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I know.
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