From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Thu Jul 06 2000 - 00:00:10 MDT
Damien Broderick wrote:
>
> At 11:26 PM 5/07/00 -0400, Eli wrote:
>
> >Morality can and must interfere
> >with many things, but never ever ever our sense of humor.
>
> Is that right? Let me tell you some hilarious rib-ticklers about Jews and
> gas chambers that I just heard from the good old boys down at the KKK
> beer-fest.
I suppose that did sound a bit heavy-handedly sanctimonious, didn't it?
That element seems to be entering a lot of my posts lately. Gotta find
some way to convey the information without the overtones...
Even so, I was serious about what I said. I don't intend to name
specifics, since they would be too easy to quote out of context - but,
yes, on at least one occasion, I've read a history book, read a
description of a reprehensible practical joke played by the Bad Guys,
and laughed. I had no choice but to laugh. It was funny. Evil, but
funny. The fact that it's funny doesn't mean that I approve; the fact
that I laughed brings me no closer to the possibility of acting so
myself. Laughter exists on an orthagonal plane.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://singinst.org/beyond.html
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