From: Kennita Watson (kwatson@netcom.com)
Date: Sat Sep 27 1997 - 09:59:19 MDT
Wax writes:
>No, it's going to be anything but weird. Where we are today, our present
>state, is weird. In the future, when we're in control, for the first time in
>history things will be normal. ...
>You were born free, your imagination wondered about the infinite
>possibilities of the universe. As you grew older you were crushed by a weird
>reality, a reality that didn't play by your rules. ...
Perhaps I've played too much D&D in my lifetime, but I haven't been able
to think of a wish to ask of my wish machine that wouldn't backfire and
still would handle the problem of rapists, megalomaniacs, homicidal and
genocidal maniacs, religious fanatics, etc. (think of the wishes such people
might make, and realize that you might not have much time to make yours,
since you definitely don't want theirs to get implemented first).
Most wishes I rejected out of hand (for example, "Enforce the non-aggression
principle" with " -- for humans." added in as a quick afterthought so I
don't screw with miscellaneous ecosystems too much -- requires a very
person-specific idea of what constitutes a threat; "Perfect psychology."
seems even more dangerous -- as I recall, Eli doesn't _like_ what some
people consider an improved psychology). I'm still evaluating "Make me both
completely free and completely safe." -- I added in the "free" part to keep
from being put in a person-sized, nuclear-hardened, climate-controlled
Habitrail.
No wonder I prefer to keep most of my thoughts about the far future
general and positive until I have a bigger brain with which to figure out
how to handle it!
Cheers,
Kennita
Kennita Watson | The bond that links your true family is not one of blood,
kwatson@netcom.com| but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do
| members of the same family grow up under the same roof.
| -- Richard Bach, _Illusions_
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:44:58 MST