From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Sun Aug 29 1999 - 20:27:11 MDT
Clint O'Dell wrote:
>
> I think it is more important to respect the technology, not to fear it.
Understand, when either John K Clark or I use the word "fear", we aren't
talking about unthinking instinctive revulsion. I mean, I'd probably
get a serious adrenaline shot if I heard nanotechnology had been
invented, but I wouldn't *panic*. At least I don't think so.
Nanopanic is a bad thing. "Blind fear gets you killed even faster than
blind enthusiasm." (Yudkowsky's Threats #2.) But that's not what we're
talking about. We're talking about the engineering belief that it's
vastly easier to build nanoweapons than shields, and the sociological
belief that given human nature, people are very likely to build - and
use - nanoweapons. To the extent that we can choose between futures, we
want to steer away from nanotechnology - or rather, since "Attempting to
suppress a technology only inflicts more damage" (Yudkowsky's Threats
#3), steer towards AI or IA or some other technology that comes with a
built-in conscience, even if it's not a knowably friendly one.
But we're still afraid.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/tmol-faq/meaningoflife.html
Running on BeOS Typing in Dvorak Programming with Patterns
Voting for Libertarians Heading for Singularity There Is A Better Way
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