From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Sat Nov 10 2001 - 13:45:42 MST
Amara Graps wrote:
>
> >From: "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com>:
>
> >If it were up to me, I'd say go in with the troops and rebuild
> >Afghanistan. Lay down roads. Cart in modular housing and erect
> >it as fast as possible. Build factories. Build farms full of
> >easy-to-operate modernized farming equipment. I don't think we
> >could transform it into a First World country overnight, that
> >takes an educated populace, but - if only we were interested in
> >nation-building - we could just build a new nation where
> >Afghanistan used to be, and the Afghan military forces
> >certainly couldn't stop us. It would at least be worth trying.
>
> Excuse me, but this is exactly the kind of bull-headed arrogance
> that gets other people, ethnic groups, and countries annoyed and
> pissed off at the U.S.
>
> I doubt that the Afghans _want_ modular tract homes and many of
> these other aspects of U.S. society and cities.
>
> It would be really wise, if you want to live a long time, to take
> some care and respect and learn something of that culture (or any culture!)
> that the U.S. wishes to "rebuild".
I'm not talking about doing them a favor. This isn't something that you
do to a culture that you want to protect. This is something you do to a
nation that has managed to really tick you off. This is not proposed as a
more compassionate alternative to bombing. This is proposed as a more
effective alternative to bombing.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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