Re: The Common Task

From: avatar (avatar@renegadeclothing.com.au)
Date: Fri Feb 07 2003 - 21:55:29 MST

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    Hubert Mania writes:

    > When I read Tipler, I remember I was wondering why on earth he wanted to
    > haul back every person who had EVER lived back into life again. From that
    > moment on I thought he must be completely nuts. I guess, it's fine to
    > *think* about the possibility of doing it in order to make clear how much
    > power would be on our hand, once we would slide and shiver into Omega
    Point.
    >
    > But then, am I really that naive or would that mean I had to sign up for
    > taking - let's say - half a dozen resurrected mongolian warriors who died
    in
    > a tribal skirmish with Western Siberians some 30.000 years ago into my
    > apartment and explain them the use of the TV remote control, get enough
    > mammoth meat for them to eat and help them getting along with the
    > application form for social security?
    >
    > I mean what great effort would it mean to provide a job for all the humans
    > who had ever lived? What would you do with Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot?
    > Gently brain wash them with a love-peace-and-happiness neuro linguistic
    > program? Well, this might be a fine retraining course for the six
    mongolian
    > warriors in my apartment. NLP trainers who spread the Kantian/Extropian
    > message amongst their war loving contemporaries. Think about some animal
    > right fighters who make it to the Omega Point! Would they stand up for
    > resurrecting all primates who had ever lived? Dolphins? This might get
    > pretty crowed down here. Another fine reason for exploring space and
    > supporting NASA.
    >
    > Cheers
    >
    > Hubert
    >

    I think we'd have to accept that if we resurrect primates or dolphins we
    will
    have to alter them neurologically to boost their intelligence, using
    human/AI
    models (which are the only models we will have to develope from, assuming we
    are alone).

    I would certainly be in favour of dogs and cats and dolphins. Numbers in the
    past
    are not a problem. Under Tipler's scheme, this all occurs in an infinite
    multiverse
    stack, so space is not a problem at all there. The intervening time however
    is a problem
    under Tipler's scheme if human populatin doubles every year (if every human
    female gets
    pregnant every year). If other spcies are boosted soon, this is also a
    problem for them.

    Under Tipler's scenario, it may be that birthing children may need to be
    restricted to certain
    intervals.

    I don't have any problem resurrecting Genghis Khan (Oceanic Lord) but I want
    to have a
    system of protective shielding (provided with consent) in place, along with
    positive ethical
    notions relating to inbuilding free will in newborns, assistance, choice
    etc..

    Genghis may well be in a difficult position because he has to live with
    himself and a lot of
    social stigma. Or he may not. As long as he is not free to rape and pillage
    without consent, I
    have no problem with his existence. Just because I can forgive him
    absolutely and love him
    to an extent does not mean that I need ever agree with what Genghis Khan did
    in the past.

    Iain Bank's Culture series can provide a few pointers on a littel of the
    above. I agree with
    Iain's vision of no work for anyone in the previous/current sense, a vision
    shared with
    Greg Egan and many other sf writers.



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