From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Sun Jan 06 2002 - 08:39:59 MST
From: "Greg Burch" <gregburch@gregburch.net>
> Francis Fukuyama has been signaling for some time that he is taking up the
> bioethics and politics of human genetic engineering as his next cause.
Thanks for the link, Greg.
Fukuyama's position seems predictable, and I expect many other intellectuals
to follow suit.
According to Fukuyama, "The other camp is a heterogeneous group with moral
concerns about biotechnology. It consists of people with strong religious
convictions, environmentalists with a belief in the sanctity of nature,
Luddite opponents of new technology, and those on the Left who are worried
about the possible return of eugenics. Members of this group, which range from
Jeremy Rifkin to the Catholic church, have proposed banning a wide range of
new technologies, from in vitro fertilization and stem cell research to
transgenic crops and human cloning."
Banning the singularity will be more difficult than banning pornography
perhaps, but with the energy of prohibitionists, I think they'll prevail for
decades to come.
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment, malevolent AI,
non-sensory experience, SETI
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
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