From: Avatar Polymorph (way@warehouse.net)
Date: Fri Aug 28 1998 - 22:03:12 MDT
Spike Jones writes:
"good idea av, but doesnt go far enough. i propose a law to make
it illegal for any animal to kill any other animal....... {8^)"
I will vote for it. You are quite right. That is not currently legally
enforceable at some levels, as 'people' are often defined as humans.
However I am in favour of consensual killing being legal, as well as
consensual self-inflicted harm, such as suicide.
While this may appear to be a jokey issue it is actually one that will
be of some debate in the future.
Those Extropians who argue for immortality as a realistic concept but
ignore debates about the biosphere as 'unrealistic and far-term' are
only trammelling their potential growth in terms of understanding. The
day that anyone markets a life-extension genetic therapy the world
enters into these discussions that some consider irrelevant.
Doubtless there are many worlds which have gone through this process at
this point of closeness to the Escalation. In fact, your actions over
the next thirty years will not effect things hugely, in all probability,
but they will constitute your contribution to the local vote on issues
of inclusion. It is certainly best to regard human attitudes towards
other species as inevitable on a Gaian level and not simply defined as
negative. Their apparent selfishness can be looked upon as an
anti-entropic spiking mechanism. Their origins in terms of social troops
also explain much of their behaviour.
I believe part of the nature of the Escalation is a reflection of the
eagerness of less complex species to shed the cycle of death and birth
(and species) and reconstruct the biosphere on the basis of choice. As a
Sentist I naturally believe in one sentient being, one vote (currently I
define sentient being as a being with a neurological system).
The differences between mortality, immortality and amortality (chosen
lifespan) are huge. Perhaps you should include a right to die in a
transhumanist bill of rights?
Avatar Polymorph
29 after Armstrong
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