Re: Singularity or Holocaust?

Philip Witham (p.j.witham@ieee.org)
Thu, 26 Feb 1998 14:20:35 -0800


At 01:15 PM 2/26/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I had a very telling and frustrating experience with the
>Soviet "mini-singularity".

Ouch.

But if you, Alexander, grow in power, unchanged at the root of your
personality, it is good for all of us. I believe selfishness in the case of
intelligent, sane people can be to our common benefit.

On the other hand, there is the saying "power corrupts, absolute power
corrupts
absolutely." I have personally seen how science-minded people who originally
started out working together openly, for altruistic reasons, change the moment
there is money to be made. It is like a phase-change from liquid to frozen,
each individual suddenly different than before.

- PW