> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.org
> [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org]On Behalf Of Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
> Sent: Sunday, 16 December 2001 8:14 AM
> To: extropians@extropy.org
> Subject: Re: Meme-set conflicts [was Re: some U.S. observations and
> notes]
>
>
> Spike Jones wrote:
> >
> > Meme changing weapons would not necessarily be dangerous.
> > Consider the meme "lay down your arms." In our current
> > world, this meme does not bring peace. The one who carries
> > it gets killed. If history is clear on anything it is
> this: weakness
> > does not stop war, it invites war. But imagine some sufficiently
> > advanced weapon that blankets the entire earth with the
> > swords-to-plowshares meme, one that works on everyone.
> > This is not a dangerous weapon but a weapon of peace.
>
> It's a weapon of nonconsensual thought alteration. By some ethics -
> Spider Robinson's, for example - this is just as evil as
> killing people
> outright. With a large enough disparity in technology it is
> possible to
> simply halt an attack without killing, harming, or brainwashing the
> attacker, and given this I see no reason to be discussing ethical
> compromises.
>
> -- -- -- -- --
> Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
> Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
>
When I read this I thought
"NYAH hyah hyah...!!!my stick's bigger than yours!!!.....nyah nyah nyah"
I think meme wars have been going a while now.
:) col
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