Re: Transhumanity and "inhumanity"
den Otter (neosapient@geocities.com)
Sun, 1 Nov 1998 01:32:36 +0100
> From: Randall Randall <wolfkin@phonetech.com>
> den Otter wrote:
&
gt;
> > Ah, but the beauty of future technology is that it can ultimately give
> > the power of a whole nation, or even a world, to just one person. A Jupiter
> > Brain is an army of philosophers, soldiers, scientists, artists and workers
> > all by itself. It is autonomous. If a guy like Hitler can obtain the crucial
> > technology to upload and expand before anyone else, or at least in the
> > early stages of transhumanity, he *could* use it to kill/enslave everyone
> > else without suffering any bad consequences. Those that will have these
> > technologies first will almost by definition be the rich and powerful
> > (the leaders of corporations and government agencies etc.)
>
> Really? To the best of my knowledge, the rich and powerful
> do not spend a lot of time in laboratories. I am curious as
> to why you think that they would have access.
They have their security men to keep an eye on the scientists,
this goes especially for government research and big companies,
the two most likely sources of upload/AI technology. The guys
that pay for the research will no doubt make sure to check how
their money is being spent.
> Any of the
> arguments that you apply to show that they do not need the
> rest of humanity applies even more aptly to the scientists
> and engineers who *build* the technologies.
Yes, but few of them have the "big picture" or the attitude to use
the technology for themselves. The guys that created the first
A-Bomb were only allowed to "play" with it under strict government
supervision, and the same will most likely be the case here.
Of
course, it could be that a group of scientists would keep the tech
for themselves and become gods, but it's not very likely. Wrong
mentality; they'll just meekly hand over the tools for godhood to
their masters.