Re: Can You Live Forever? Esquire article

Michael S. Lorrey (mike@lorrey.com)
Wed, 12 May 1999 18:45:32 -0400

"J. R. Molloy" wrote:

> From: Michael S. Lorrey <mike@lorrey.com>
>
> >> Hmm, maybe this is the key to our whole quarrel: you see the posthuman
> >> as a mechanical creature, while I regard him as a biological (if
> >> inorganic) creature.
> >
> >Yes, it is a rather racist and intolerant view of humanity.
>
> "racist"? What a stretch! You've gone silly on me.

Ah, amazing the sort of knee jerk reactions you can get to semantically 'hot' words. IMNSHO, it is as racist to regard an artificial intelligence as a) an inhuman unnatural object, and b) automatically a threat based on prejudice (a), as it is to regard someone of another color, religion, gender, or ethnicity as an inhuman or less than human and therefore a threat. Both reactions are pure xenophobia. Not very enlightened of you, J.R.

Mike Lorrey