Re: Why just simulation?

From: Nick Bostrom (nick@nickbostrom.com)
Date: Sat Mar 17 2001 - 18:42:19 MST


Hugo Alves:

>Nick Bostrom wrote:
>"When I said there might be ethical prohibitions to running simulations of
>human lives, what I had in mind was the fact that human life contains so
>much misery. I don't think there is anything immoral about creating
>simulations per se."
>
>I doubt anyone in this list and most people outside it would prefer to
>have never existed if they knew they were part of a simulation made by
>people that were much happier than we are.

If that is the relevant criterion, then there'd be no moral prohibition
against simulating the sort of people we find here. And that would mean
that yet another way of avoiding the conclusion that we are in a simulation
is blocked.

Nick Bostrom
Department of Philosophy
Yale University
Homepage: http://www.nickbostrom.com



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:59:41 MDT