From: Eliezer Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Fri Dec 27 1996 - 14:50:18 MST
> > look at the amount of heat generated over abortions.
>
> Little light though.
The point is that the abortion debate is as altruistic as it gets. Few
voters have anything to fear from abortions...
> Sure, people have better bodies and brains than flat worms. Still, some
> of them are MUCH better or worse than others in many [groups of] tasks,
> from running to painting to math, based on both genetic factors and
> upbringing. This is a FACT of life.
Heh. And, as a countersphexist Algernon, I'm much better at causal
analysis - including ethical blame-allocation - with a qualitative
superiority totally beyond the mere individual variations to which you
refer. Clearly I have the right to direct your entire lifestyle. No?
Do you deny my superiority, or my right? If my right, why shouldn't the
"stupid masses" lead their own lives? If my superiority, don't you
think that my elaborate neurocognitive explanation of superior reasoning
should carry more force than your looking down your nose at people who
happened to wind up with a bad education?
I don't necessarily believe that I'm a superior life-form, but I do want
you to see it from the other side. How do you like being part of the
"stupid masses"?
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/singularity.html
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.
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