Charlie Stross wrote:
>
> Moreover, I find the idea that we should follow an 'optimum' set of rules
> because we evolved that way morally abhorrent. You do realise that this
> is the root of the argument deployed by various bigots for banning/killing
> homosexuals? "It isn't natural ..."
I find the idea of doing a pattern copy on evolution's unsupported word to
be morally abhorrent - but if the optimum set of rules for a human society
isn't determined by our existing set of adaptations, what *is* it
determined by?
As far as I can tell, the optimum global rules for a large human
civilization (technocapitalist economy / volitional philanthropy /
libertarian goverment) are almost completely determined by the constraint
that local behaviors be compatible with the set of adaptations optimal for
a hunter-gatherer tribe.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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