From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Fri Mar 05 1999 - 02:44:18 MST
Max More wrote:
>
> If we currently happen to all like tomato soup, I suppose that makes
> "liking tomato soup" part of what it is to be an extropian. What's gone
> wrong? See the preceding paragraph.
For that matter, we are all mere humans. It doesn't mean that being
human is part of being an Extropian. Exactly the opposite, in fact;
just because we don't yet have the technological capability to live up
to our philosophy doesn't mean we ought to lower our standards.
In exactly the same sense, I feel that all use of force and coercion,
initiatory or retaliatory, is undesirable; but I don't think the present
unfair world permits the non-initiation of force. Even if you don't
bomb a country until they bomb you, you'll still hit children who never
did you any harm. And if Japan hadn't attacked and the US had followed
a strictly Libertarian philosophy, the Axis would have conquered the
world at a leisurely pace and then moved on to us.
> Still, of all the points you make, this one at least has the merit of
> hinting at a possible way of improving the definition and Principles. I've
> been considering a more systematic and hierarchical derivation of the
> current principles from fewer underlying ideas. However, I feel much
> reluctance to heading in that direction, since it lends itself to monistic
> and dogmatic system building.
Listen to those misgivings. A deep philosophical justification of
Extropy from first principles is a nice thing to publish on your own
account, but those of us who have our own complex personal philosophies
would almost certainly disagree; it shouldn't be part of the
*definition*. Besides, what if you're wrong?
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
http://pobox.com/~sentience/sing_analysis.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.
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