>I have argued on this list several times that for human beings to
>coexist as individuals, on any platform, each must give up a measure of
>his or her freedom (freedom to kill, freedom to steal, etc.)
>Unfortunately I see no other way to do this, and also ensure that one
>gives up no more freedom than another, other than a social contract.
<opinion>
While this has been a problem in the past, I look forward to a day when
even this social convention can be avoided. Uploadable intelligence makes
the problem of killing the body, at worst, an inconvenience. Government
itself will become a lost cause ... what punishment can be dealt on the
uploadable (replicable) brain? What force can hold it in place? What
agency can permanently remove an article of information from this world?
</opinion>
<opinion knowledege=uninformed>
John Stuart Mill argues that man is essentially striving for happiness;
that society should therefore strive for the happiness of those within it.
But what happens to the utilitarian society when man arrives at the point
to which he has been striving, when he reaches happiness at the throw of a
switch? Society falls apart; man himself becomes functionless.
What kind of society is left?
</opinion>
-WHEN YOUR ONLY TOOL IS A HAMMER-
-EVERY PROBLEM STARTS TO LOOK LIKE A NAIL-