From: Pat Fallon (pfallon@ptd.net)
Date: Tue Sep 16 1997 - 09:20:39 MDT
>I think it was Eliezer S. Yudkowsky who wrote
>To solve the crack ghettos I need to ... use force-evolved viruses to
>target cocaine supplies.
And I suppose you would have been in favor of engineering a blight during
alcohol prohibition in order to "solve" the problems caused by bathtub gin,
had it been technologically feasible?
I don't want you, or the nanny state, "protecting" me from "evil" drugs.
It is frightening to think of the power of a nanny state using biotechnology
or nanotechnology to implement the latest item in the public health agenda.
Want to stop people from smoking?...just unleash the newest super strain of
tobacco mosaic virus and let'em go to work.
I have always thought that it would be a more tolerant society if everyone
had to pay for the laws/programs they wanted enforced. I might choose to
hire a private eye to recover stolen merchandise, but I wouldn't pay to send
troops to Bolivia to burn the cocoa fields, nor engineer viruses that target
the current illicit drug. Too bad our political system empowers
'do-gooders', like the Clintons, who have big ideas about how we should all
be living our lives, and little regard for my individual choices.
I don't see how Elizer can "target" cocaine supplies with his new virus,
without violating individual/property rights, even if he develops it in his
basement with his own funds. Unless he intends to unleash it only in his own
house.
Pat Fallon
pfallon@bigfoot.com
http://www.mmsweb.com/eykiw
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