From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Fri Nov 22 2002 - 15:26:08 MST
On Fri, 22 Nov 2002, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
> Same goes for murder. I can model the possibility that murder might be right,
Actually, if you watch much of the debate coming out of the "green" camp
they are *way* ahead of you. The torching of some labs at the University
of Washington recently comes immediately to mind.
> or even that an unFriendly type IV deity might *make* murder be right
> under my own current moral standards
The greens don't have to seem to graduate to the type IV level to manage
that rationalization -- nor do the muslims that rioted in Nigeria objecting
to the Miss World pagent causing between 50 and 100 deaths, or the Palestinians
that seem to view buses as items to be consumed for lunch.
> but in both cases I don't model that as having anything to do
> with the case of a warped-Eliezer *thinking* murder is right.
In all of the cases I cite above the people obviously view mahem and
"murder" as potentially being "right".
The U.N. and the U.S. seem to be embarked on a course that may kill
thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people -- we can contrast
that "action" with inaction that is/will cause as many or more deaths
in Bangladesh due to arsenic poisoning. And let us not delve into
the African AIDS crisis with tens of millions waiting for the axe
to fall.
So extropes -- how can you justify these nice la-de-da philosophical
discussions while the bodies are piled higher and higher around
us each day? (This isn't directed at any recent ExI list conversants
specifically -- it is intended largely as a rhetorical question).
Somedays I just wonder (a lot) about the gap between "our" reality
and that which pervades much of the world.
Robert
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