From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Fri May 01 1998 - 15:24:26 MDT
>The Scientific, Economic and Military
advantages I would gain by having a
>machine just a little smarter than you
have are too huge to ignore. You'll
>worry that I'm getting ahead, I'll
worry that you're getting ahead and
we'll
>both worry that somebody else we've
never heard of is getting ahead.
>Somebody somewhere will do it and
things will never be the same.
Things are actually more like they are
now than they ever have been before.
The incomprehensibility of a
super-intelligent super-organism -- a
"metaman" -- does not preclude its
creation. But if what the human race has
done to unpopular genii of the past
indicates what might happen to Metaman,
than it (he? she?) will probably suffer
a fate similar to that of say Galileo
or... fill in the heretic of your own
choice. I guess the only way to find out
is to build the artificial life form (or
grow it). Cultural creatives such as
extropians may have a slight edge as
early adaptors to a world populated by
liberated mechanical genius. Or does
"mechanical genius" constitute an
oxymoron? Before building this golem,
maybe we should first indulge in a bit
of special ethnic cleansing: get rid of
the nincompoops who overpopulate the
Earth with their idiotic progeny.
Cheers,
J R
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