In a message dated 3/17/01 1:10:53 AM, bradbury@aeiveos.com writes:
>I.e. if you exhaust all the possibilities (read use up all the matter
>to store the memory states of the all the conscious entities that have
>ever been created and who cannot be destroyed) -- does not the moral position
>that you "cannot" erase those states imply that you cannot fullfill the
>extropian prime directive?
Good points. My interpretation is that the Extropian "prime directive"
and our consensus morality of decent behavior towards concious entities
imply we can't ethically create the kinds of experimental/historical sims
we've been discussing. If we create a sim with concious entities we must
treat them like we would treat each other, i.e., cive them access to
info about the world, provide them access to self-enhancement, etc.
Hal was making this point.
If it's just recording data about the past, I don't see ethical issues with
erasing it. Conciousness is a process, not a state. If we inherit
data equivalents of corpsicles we have to treat them with respect
to the intents of those who had themselves frozen, provided they
provided adequate resources in their wills. We may choose to do
more, but them it becomes charity, not required. If you create or collect
data, it's still just data and property, unless you turn on a sim using
that data, in which case concious data "should" become its own
propert.
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