From: Brent Allsop (allsop@fc.hp.com)
Date: Mon Aug 02 1999 - 15:30:09 MDT
Robert J. Bradbury <bradbury@www.aeiveos.com>
> The aliens are effectively "gods", and they simply don't care.
In my opinion I completely disagree. I think logic dictates
that Gods must care. You can't be all knowing and all feeling without
having some kind of sympathy for things that are less than you. Look
at how much interest we have in trying to study (and bring back if we
could) the dinosaurs or any extinct species no matter how old. If you
really are God, you have near infinite powers and can eventually do
any finite task no matter how big. If, for a relative few cents, you
could by the research and work required to recreate many of the
dinosaurs (along with a great expansive place to keep them) Wouldn't
you donate the few cents in relative effort to your overall ability no
matter how much you were interested in and putting the rest of your
abilities in other things? Eventually we'll have so much power, that
it will be like spending mere pennies, in comparison to what we'll be
able to afford, to do the work required to do any such finite task.
> Every day you sit on the toilet you are flushing trillions of
> harmless little bacteria (they are even beneficial to you!) down
> the pipes, to go to the local processing plant where most of them
> end up dead! Does that make you *evil*?
I think being ignorant of such facts does make me evil. I
feel horribly guilty because of this. God, please make me not be so
ignorant (and helpless to do otherwise) so I will no longer feel so
guilty about all such injustices where I so blatantly (and often
blindly) and unjustly destroy and fail to adequately care for things
that are less than I.
> Brent, while I am extremely sympathetic to your position, I think
> you should reconsider it. Natural selection works. Stick your
> fingers in it and you end up with suboptimal entities.
Once we move on from random unintentional very slow
evolutionary survival of the fittest progress to rational intelligent
directed progress the evils of death and suffering are no longer
required. Only a very few random mutations fail to make the inheritor
of such not suffer and live a lessor life. Certainly intelligent
directed, non random progress can improve on these odds much more
significantly.
> If you don't have a "prime directive", how do you decide exactly who
> to help? Dogs but not cats? Cats but not dogs?
You help all you can, certainly those people and animals still
here on earth before you go out to space looking for more. (that's
why I favor putting research into finding a cure for aging... first,
before going to mars...) If one really is "God" (as in powerful
enough to do any finite task) you logically must be compelled to help
them all or else suffer unimaginable guilt for being so evil and crass
to those that are less than you. Would our children prefer that we
give them a city on mars which they can travel to and live
or... immortal life?
> With regard to your parents, you should discuss cryonics with them.
> The interesting thing is that I've discussed it to some degree with
> my parents and they don't want any part of it.
Exactly! Don't you think something like a message from space
saying we should freeze the dieing until they can teach us how to
become immortal would help to convince our parents? Dammit God, screw
your simulation. Find some better way to get your trivial knowledge
without making us suffer and please give me enough of something to be
able to show my parents how blind they are being or whatever is
required so more of them might be saved.
Brent Allsop
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