From: Patrick Wilken (patrickw@cs.monash.edu.au)
Date: Tue Aug 31 1999 - 19:11:09 MDT
>If there are other recurring "tough questions" I have missed,
>let me know and I'll add them to my list. If you can point me to
>interesting discussions or essays on these topics elsewhere, I
>would be interested as well.
Many people on this list rightly fear and loath the tryanny of the majority
over that of the minority. One aspect of this is the tryanny of government
over peoples lives. The counter-problem has not had as much air time
(perhaps because the rights of an individual are seen - rightly in my
opinion - as so important).
The tryanny of the minority over the majority is not as easy to deal with.
Do we allow everyone the right to have a pound of plutonium each and ready
instructions on how to build a bomb? Do we - as individuals (let's not get
into Statist distractions) - have an ethical right to stop this? If yes,
then what about nanotech, high powered AI all of which seem to pose even
greater risks. Do
Or a completely different example. What if 90% of people want a particular
unique forest to remain. Then someone who claims the land (perhaps through
theft - at least in Australia the original 'owners' were killed last
century) - and starts destroying it. Do individuals have a right to protect
their rights? Do they have any rights? Perhaps people could buy the land,
but what if this simple solution is not open and the land is not for sale?
If forests aren't your favorite things take this example: say I've just
uncovered some missing works of Plato or Aristole of Shakespeare and now I
want to burn them because I don't agree with their ideas and I don't want
anyone else to ever read them (echoes of Eco). Do the majority have any
rights here?
Please no flames. I just want to understand how to maximise everyone's
freedom here.
best, patrick
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick Wilken
Editor: PSYCHE: An International Journal of Research on Consciousness
Board Member: The Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness
http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/ http://www.phil.vt.edu/ASSC/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:04:58 MST