From: Twink (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Sat Nov 22 1997 - 14:00:06 MST
At 09:03 PM 11/21/97 -0800, Michael M. Butler <mbutler@comp*lib.org> wrote:
>OK... Let me say that I have doubts about uplifting something as alien as
>octopi.They're mostly-solitary carnivores from a part of the ecosystem we know
>very little about (the cold parts of the Pacific),
Actually, they are found all over the place. If they were only in the cold
parts of
the Pacific, how did they wind up in Mediterranean cuisine? It is the giant
octopus which is native to the _Northeast_ Pacific. Though this organism has
lots of potential, I think due to problems with handling and feeding it
(octopodes
of most types are big eaters, probably because of their active lifestyle),
it would
not be a good candidate for uplifting. I am more inclined toward the brown
octopus, which is found on both American coasts, is much smaller, more studied
and more common.
>and they're
>startlingly-advanced cases of parallel evolution. But they're molluscs. They
>could turn into an enemy a little too easily for my liking. I'd prefer trying
>to uplift something a little closer to us--something mammalian.
I don't completely understand your molluscaphobia:), but I can just as easily
think of uplifting mammals being a threat. But right now, the most dangerous
mammals for you and me are humans. I am more likely to be killed or injured
by a human, either intentionally or otherwise, then I am by any mollusc or
other organism, save microrganisms.
>Call me a
>chauvinist if you want to. I used to joke about what I thought would
>constitute a _real_ "crime against humanity"--giving house cats (F.
>domesticus) hands. I think uplifting octopi might be almost as bad.
I don't think intelligence plus nonhuman form equals enemy of humanity.
If so, what will posthumans be?
Daniel Ust
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