From: Avatar Polymorph (avatarpolymorph@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Nov 23 2002 - 05:13:42 MST
Robert Bradbury wrote:
>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.
You can easily see about genocides at www.genocidewatch.com - also it is
easy to find out rates of malnutrition worldwide (gradually falling off).
Singularitarian thinking about "friendly" AI and sysop (systems operation)
as a protective mechanism strikes me as positive.
As far as my personal opinion goes, I NEVER make any distinction between
types of unwanted death. EVERY person I see dying or in physical trouble I
would help if I could and if they wanted help. I've always been this way but
when I was younger I just had to be stoic and ignore the pain as best I
could (not my pain - the pain around me). I always worshipped science as a
kind of religion being an sf fan as well so extropian and transhumanist
thinking is completely natural to me, with notions such as augmentation,
boosting of some animal species, self-boosting (bootstrapping), multiple
bodies and so on old hat. I already had come to believe in the same
princples embodied in nanotech at the macro level (given enough time and
software) anyhow, back in 1981 or so. Tipler and VR and turing machine
notions etc. have however I must admit given me a bit more to chew on. But
getting back to the issue...
I believe what we say and do is absolutely vital, as much as the tech
itself. If we believe in responsible liberty and the benefits of nanotech,
we ought to believe in a minimum level of resources for all, and acknowledge
that most people will choose to be very long-lived or immortal youths. This
can only be a good thing for the conversational value.
Bill Gates gave (for whatever reasons) a fifth of his wealth to health
research and projects. Peter Singer (the philosopher) gives a fifth of his
wealth to the third world.
So that's one thing you can do.
I guess groups like Amnesty International are the other thing.
One problem I find is that AI and other groups on the fringes are often
unaware of nanotech. Perhaps our role is to make them aware!
As far as how to approach the issue of murder and death and war and
unwanted, unchosen suffering goes, I generically approach questions with the
following maxims:
. maximum choice, minimum force
. preference for systems of protective shielding
. ensure structure solutions are addressed as well as immediate solutions.
I find them very helpful.
Avatar Polymorph
PS generally I find extropians ok to talk with as even where you disagree
with some politically, they don't have the "world is the way it is and you
can't change it" attitude because they KNOW it IS changing as we speak!
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