From: Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Date: Mon Mar 06 2000 - 22:27:37 MST
Anders Sandberg wrote:
> Actually, this is where we could improve our memetic artillery... But
> if we ourselves argue for the ethics of our actions, then we can
> acually use this interest in ethics to make people more open to it.
OK let me try one angle:
0) A person is on fire and you are standing by with an extinguisher.
Would you not be saving a life, doing good etc, by putting them out?
Sure, it would be murder to do otherwise.
1) If a person has gotten a snakebite and you are standing there
with a syringe filled with antivenom, what then? Same as above.
2) A person has a disease for which there is a known cure, and
you are a doctor with that cure. How now? Same as above.
3) A person has a disease for which there is no known cure, but
there is good reason to believe there is a cure that can be found
with a minimal amount of research.
You see where I am going with this. At what point is humanity
comfortable saying NO MORE RESEARCH to save lives? At what
point does it become nonmurder to quit searching new cures?
Nanotechnology is a field which promises cures far beyond our
fondest dreams. spike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:27:13 MST