From: Matt Mahoney (matmahoney@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Apr 04 2008 - 18:46:17 MDT
--- mwaser@cox.net wrote:
> ---- Matt Mahoney <matmahoney@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Forgive me, for I have sinned. I swatted a mosquito and deleted some
> files
> > while eating a tuna sandwich.
>
> I'm sorry. I don't see a sin here. You swatted a mosquito that was
> attempting to feed upon you (That is your right). Files are not thinking
> entities. And, at your current stage of development, you are healthiest
> eating lower life forms (as long as you only kill them for a real purpose
> and don't torment them in doing so).
>
> Why do you feel that you need forgiveness?
>
> You should only do those acts for which you are comfortable that you won't
> need to ask for forgiveness (i.e. those acts where most people would say
> that you are fully justified in acting that way). I think that all of those
> acts apply.
So instead of being equally friendly to all intelligences, now you say an act
is ethical if most people believe it is ethical. How does this work for
animal rights, abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, and teleportation?
(You want to go from point A to point B. After your copy appears at B, is it
ethical to kill you at A?)
>
> > > I've seen and believe that I understand your beliefs. May I ask you to
> open
> > > yourself to the possibility that the dark, gloomy future that you
> portray is
> > > merely fearful conservatism and that the future could easily turn out to
> be
> > > a wonderful, glorious thing?
> >
> > Or the possibility of both at the same time, depending on the goals of the
> > observer.
>
> No. Not really. If the future makes *everyone's* goals more possible, only
> the sick and twisted (defined as those who want to hurt themselves and
> others -- aka UnFriendlies) will be unhappy -- and the environment will be
> such that these will heal and others won't be created.
So if the world is turned into gray goo then that is good as long as the
nanobots achieve their goals, or am I missing something? (The nanobots would
declare the humans unfriendly because they use too many resources (thus
hurting others) and because they refuse to upload (thus hurting themselves by
refusing immortality)).
-- Matt Mahoney, matmahoney@yahoo.com
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