From: Dave Sill (extropians@dave.sill.org)
Date: Wed Mar 21 2001 - 19:41:22 MST
Lee Corbin <lcorbin@ricochet.net> wrote:
> Dave Sill wrote, criticizing Eliezer Y.'s statement
>
> >> Every conscious being is a citizen.
>
> and asks
>
> > Including cats and dogs? People with IQ < 25?
>
> In my opinion, this incidiary question will confuse
> a lot of people, and understandably so. We must be
> very clear that what you are suggesting, I hope, is
> something not in the context of a pre-existing
> arrangement that (a) supports rights of citizens
> regardless of their IQs (b) culturally defines
> "respect" and "loyalty" so that it is odious to
> defect against other members of your society.
I can't quite follow what you're saying, but I can clarify my question. Say
I'm slopping together some biochemicals and produce something the
intellectual equivalent of a fish. Or I write an AI in perl that's not quite
up to normal human intelligence--ok, it's an idiot--but it's self aware. At
what point on the continuum do we declare such a man made being a "citizen"?
> > Citizen of what? Sim City? And what rights
> > does that confer? By what authority?
>
> Exactly the right question! My answer: a pre-existing
> social arrangement, like the one all the people reading
> this list habitually find themselves immersed in.
I still don't follow you, Lee. In what pre-existing social arrangement are
these example beings I've created? Spell it out for me: I'm simpleminded.
What are their rights, in your opinion?
-Dave
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:06:35 MST