From: Brent Allsop (allsop@fc.hp.com)
Date: Tue Oct 24 2000 - 17:31:36 MDT
Zero Powers <zero_powers@hotmail.com> responded:
> I still think you're over-estimating the good being done by ExI
What might be a more realistic value then? Sure, some $$$
spent will be worth more than other $$$ spent on getting us to the
singularity (and hence bringing immortal salvation to more), and given
the time value of money, surely in general, $$$ spent now are more
valuable than $$$ spent 10 or 20 years from now to the effort of
bringing eternal salvation to more people.
Surely, some amount of money spent today on Exi, medical
research or whatever will more or less bring eternal salvation to one
more of our children. Perhaps $0.01, or $1, or maybe $100? Maybe
more for each immortal soul?
Lets say spending $10,000 on ExI, on average enables one more
of our children to make it to eternal salvation. Lets say spending
$10,000 on the Red Cross increases the average mortal life span of 100
people by 10 years (and lets assume this isn't, yet, enough to get any
of them to the singularity.) Would you consider these to be
conservative numbers yet? Even with this, which is the better buy?
I think I'd hope I'd be able to give up 10 years of my life if
it'd bring one more of my children eternal salvation.
I try to simply think, every $1 spent today might bring
immortality to one more of my children. Perhaps this is a little to
optimistic, but by how much, do you think? Even if it is, it still
helps me to overcome my selfishness and give a little more.
I kind of feel like the Mormon church which tries to justify
their lack of aid to humanity, given the billions of $$$ they take in
every year. They just built a billion $$$ conference center in
downtown SLC which is the largest (and likely the most expensive)
religious building of it's type anywhere. They claim: why help a
person live a few more years of life, when you might be able to give
them eternal salvation by converting them and getting them baptized?
But then, this justification works for me and not for them, because
I'm right and their wrong right?;) If extropians are right, how many
people could the LDS church really bring eternal salvation to, given
such huge amount of resources, if they only really knew which was the
better buy????
Brent Allsop
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:31:43 MST