Re: Normative Reasoning: A Siren Song?

From: Nick Bostrom (nick.bostrom@philosophy.oxford.ac.uk)
Date: Sun Sep 19 2004 - 12:16:09 MDT


Michael Wilson wrote:

>and computing power. If there's any sort of competition going on, turning
>yourself into a RPOP is the way to win. Unfortunately it also appears to be
>the end of most of the stuff we place moral value on. ...
>The basic question here is 'can we create a Power we can care about?'.

But why would the power itself have to be intrinsically valuable so long as
it fosters other beings that are?

On a vaguely related note, I've had a half-written essay lying around since
2001 on how some "upward" evolutionary trajectories could lead to dystopian
outcomes, which I've now finally completed:
http://www.nickbostrom.com/fut/evolution.html.

Nick Bostrom
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Oxford University
Philosophy Faculty; 10 Merton Street; OX1 4JJ; U. K.
Tel: +44 (0)7789 74 42 42 | Homepage: http://www.nickbostrom.com



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