Re: FAQ Additions (Posthuman mind control)

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Wed, 24 Feb 1999 15:45:47 -0600

den Otter wrote:
>
> Yes, and I bet that (some) religious nuts drink thea, wear T-shirts
> and ride a bike, but that doesn't mean that those things
> are automatically bad. The same goes for some of their ideas/
> methods.

You know, you're right. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the philosophy of "I'm right and I can impose my views on everyone else" has any cause-and-effect relationship to the Spanish Inquisition. It's just a coincidence. Have you considered work in the tobacco industry?

> We can scientifically prove that we're right, something that the others
> can't. Also, we can scientifically prove that the other memes will usually
> deminish one's quality of life, and *always* lead to the permanent
> destruction of the host. Our intentions are good, and our methods
> are sound. It doesn't get any better than that.

Whoa! I've never heard any of those religious nuts claim they can PROVE they're right! They just argued that their view had a fairly good probability of being right and was better than any other alternative. Fools. Of course, we both know that only being absolutely certain that you're right can possibly justify imposing your own views on everyone else. 

-- 
        sentience@pobox.com         Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
         http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
          http://pobox.com/~sentience/sing_analysis.html
Disclaimer:  Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.