From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Tue Jan 30 2001 - 02:48:12 MST
Zero Powers wrote:
>
> >From: "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com>
>
> >Charlie Stross wrote:
> > >
> > > In a spirit of non-confrontational rationalism, I'd like to see if we
> > > can compose a list of ideas that we *ALL* agree on.
> > >
> > > If you disagree with any of these memes, could you wave a hand and
> > > explain why?
> > >
> > > 1. Forcing our fellow human beings to live their lives as we see fit
> > > is unethical. (Persuading them of the error of their ways so that
> > > they _choose_ to live their lives by our lights is another matter.)
> >
> >Minor objection: Persuading someone of truthful statements, using a
> >persuasive algorithm that is powerful enough to convince that person of
> >arbitrary (true or false) propositions, is probably unethical without
> >consent.
>
> I *think* my comment is similar to Eli's. However, being a wordsmith and
> not a computer scientist or mathmetician, I'd put it this way: There's a
> thin line between force and persuasion.
Not so thin. An argument, no matter how strong, is not physical force.
An argument that does not threaten physical force or use other forms of
force like fraud or blackmail is very different than an initiation of
force. Those who do not know the difference may be condemned to find
out.
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:05:27 MST