EvMick@aol.com wrote:
Yes, but this is fundamentally different; godhood isn't something
that one would sell (or give away) like one would do with minor
technological advances such as phones, TVs cars etc. Just like nukes
were (and are) only for a select few, so will hyperintelligence,
nanotech, uploading etc. initially be only available to a select
group, which will most likely use them to become gods. There is
no rational reason to distribute this kind of power once you have
it.
Powerful businessmen still need others to make and buy their products,
and dictators and presidents still need their people to stay in power
& to keep the country running, but a SI needs NO-ONE, it's
supremely autonomous. I can't imagine why it would share its
awesome power with creatures that are horribly primitive from its point
of view. Would *we* uplift ants/mice/dogs/monkeys to rule the world
as our equals? I think not.
>
> In a message dated 8/8/98 10:53:00 PM Central Daylight Time,
> extrogod@hotmail.com writes:
>
> > What is the motivation to offer them
> > transhuman status? Brotherhood? The same brotherhood that spreads the
> > technological and material wealth of the present? I think Brandon
> > Carter's sounding more prophetic all the time.
>
> <yawn>
>
> More class warfare.
>
> You might just notice that todays' poor are richer than the dreams of avarice
> of bygone royalty?
>
> Somehow the wealth appears to be spreading.
But then again, we can only guess at a SIs motivations (but I wouldn't count too much on its benevolence). In any case, we should all work hard to be among the first SIs, that's the only reasonably sure way to live long and prosper.