From: Emlyn (onetel) (emlyn@one.net.au)
Date: Fri Jul 14 2000 - 23:32:45 MDT
<snipped some of the prior thread>
> I wasn't talking about secrecy, just keeping it out of people's faces.
> People seem to accept "taking advantage" of others in all sorts of ways as
> long as it isn't vivid to them. People give to panhandlers and say no to
> mailed charity letters. People happily buy products from foreigners
working
> in conditions they would be outraged to see their neighbors working in.
>
> >Plus, what are the odds that the destructive upload is going to work,
> >first time? Most things don't. A number of people are going to be
> >killed before you get an upload that works. The moral opposition to
> >such an effort would be overwhelming, especially when it comes from
> >people who will be put out of work if it succeeds.
>
> Again to get upset about the destruction of a frozen head you had to
> accept it as alive in the first place. And the risk of a destructive
> scan failing to pick up the relevant info is different from the risk
> of any one simluation not being tuned right.
>
> Now opposition due to fears of being put out of work is a whole
> different matter. But it isn't the same thing as these other "moral"
> concerns you've mentioned.
>
> Robin Hanson rhanson@gmu.edu http://hanson.gmu.edu
> Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University
> MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030
> 703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
>
If I was in a position to be cryonically suspended (which I don't think I am
in Oz), I think I would make it very, very clear that I *volunteer* for the
first uploading experiments. All the better if the general public thinks I'm
dead, it is likely to be very difficult to organise if you fit the more
commonly accepted definition of being alive. I would hope that someone alive
at the time of the experiments actually gave a damn about me, and where I
eventually ended up, but if not, well, I'd still rather be on the front
line. Exploit me, I don't care; becoming one of the first few Posthumans has
got to come with a price tag. And ye gods, the payoff...
Emlyn
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