From: Avatar Polymorph (avatarpolymorph@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Nov 20 2002 - 17:49:10 MST
Anders Sandberg wrote amongst other stuff:
"In the end I think we will never get a classless society, because people
are different from each other and tend to shape themselves by their
surrounding cultures. We might reach a situation where all constraints are
just cultural constructs and resources are so accessible that there is no
want, but that will still have people dividing themselves."
I found Anders views broadly informative. I myself agree that material want
on a base level will be eliminated. Cultural parameters will define resource
allocation for projects so long as resources are limited.
Long range predictions are difficult because so much depends on what exists
elsewhere in this universe. If there were no other life in this universe,
resource allocation is not so much an issue compared to the base level
(mansion, macrobot servants, intelligent materials under your command,
section of computronium VR base for you, energy share for you, ability to
have an overt discrete child within a certain fair period of time). However,
fully high level abilities (ability to create galaxies or universes etc.)
depend on another level of tech beyond the Singularity as mapped so far. If
there is a tech ceiling to the Singularity (or if that ceiling requires
billenia to be approached) then cultural factors are likely to be the main
"expression" of the human spirit (or more properly sentient or transhuman
spirit). This may not necessarily (indeed it's unlikely) be interlinked with
resource allocation as we understand it. For example, in aristocratic
society in the UK "coventry" was imposed social lack of acknowledgement - a
person could appear in his club, but no-one would speak to him (male gender
of course). Aristocratic society is probably a more viable and
understandable model than 20th century society for transhumanists, with the
understanding that there is no "underclass" at all [bar non-sentient
macrobots and 'intelligent' materials*]. Though aristocrats did not work
manually usually or have to work manually they have divisions and debate
about "luxury" resource allocation, political direction, meaning of life,
art, the social system and so on.
Of course, immortalism or amortalism or emortalism will make a difference as
well. Perhaps not so much as might be thought. It may be that continued
existence simply becomes an extension of the "now" as experienced by 20 and
30 year olds, where death is a rarity. Interactive VR including overlay may
also make a difference.
>From my perspective it is important to argue for : a classless society in
the sense that BASE LEVEL access to fair minimum resources (i.e. assembler
products and energy and base level software) is equal for all, and that
maximum choice (which entails protective shielding for the victims of
non-consensual force) is also present [choice is a type of corollary of
access to base level stuff, but needs to be articulated separately as well
because it impacts on the social and cultural worlds including virtuality].
Avatar Polymorph
* There is the question of complex tasks beyond the computing powers of
intelligent materials and complex computers. If it is desirable to impart AI
with the same rights as other sentient beings, it may be the case that the
subroutines required to complete complex tasks might have to be assumed by
those involved in gaining the benefit or involved in the particular area
[rather than creating an AI slave to do so, which would be unethical]. For
example, a computer with an intelligent materials extension could run a city
sewerage system but may not be up to doing experiemental quantum
reproduction analysis of black hole processes. In this instance, the
"scientist" (or plural) or relevant being doing the experiment might want to
allocate a proportion of their consciousness to the task. Obviously there is
also the question of trust in these situations. I myself have a firm belief
in the generally positive nature of more complex consciousness due to its
greater empathetic ability.
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