From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Tue May 14 2002 - 10:46:10 MDT
On Tue, 14 May 2002, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
> Our minds make us human. DNA has nothing to do with it.
Actually, I'd refine this further -- it is our "empathy"
that makes us human. The lack thereof -- e.g. the
sociopathic tendencies of the Hannibal Lecters or the
Freddy Krugers is what strikes fear in our hearts
because they ignore the implicit social contract(s) that
we have between ourselves as coexistant individuals.
The "fine print" is written in part in our DNA and in
part in our culture. If we are to deal with the likes
of Fukuyama, we need to define (precisely) when one
might be undertaking efforts that would rewrite the
"fine print" in ways that fundamentally destroy the
contract.
If the "Extropian Principles" are rational "human"
principles -- then we need to identify those paths
that might lead to irrational or inhumane beings
and avoid them.
I think this is a fundamental nexus in extropic
thought -- to what extent the individual has the
right to explore paths that could lead to the
extinction of all individuals (or alternatively
all "non-aligned" individuals). A deep deep swamp.
Robert
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:14:04 MST