[extropy-chat] Hubert Mania's Comments

Eliezer Yudkowsky sentience at pobox.com
Mon Jun 28 08:58:55 UTC 2004


Matus wrote:
> 
> And Robert never said anything like 'mass murder is a good idea'  Yet
> another example of semantic shifting and vilification on the part of
> those who disagree with Robert.  Robert's question would be more
> accurately paraphrased as 'Is killing in self defense less people now
> better than killing more people later' (Robert can disagree of my
> paraphrasing of course, this is just what I can pick up from the
> discussion)  The key point is that Robert considers these actions self
> defense, not 'murder' which are clearly different things.  An entire
> ethical debate could center around what is self-defense and how much
> force is justified.  But when faced with the tough question of what we
> can do knowing that those who oppose stem cell research, cloning
> technology, nanotechnology, technology in general, and thinking, reason,
> and logic in general are sentencing us to death, literally murdering us,
> that some of us choose to hide our heads in the sand and refuse to think
> about such things gives us no moral high ground in attacking those who
> do.

It doesn't matter whether you commit casual genocide in the course of 
trying to be reasonable, logical, utilitarian, and impress everyone with 
how stern you are to consider such harsh tradeoffs (although, needless to 
say, you are not considering making any sacrifices yourself).  I don't 
care.  It's genocide, period.  You can ponder the question all you like. 
When you say that your *conclusion* is to commit casual genocide, you've 
crossed the line that *I* draw between Us and Them.  You've left the line 
behind in the dust.  You're part of the problem, not part of the solution. 
  I disagree that casual genocide is justified, and moreover, I don't 
believe it would *work*.  It would backfire as none save a historian could 
begin to imagine.  And since I believe casual genocide is the wrong action, 
I do not regard it as in the smallest degree meliorating the severity of 
the offense, that the casual genocide is advocated in the name of Jesus, 
Islam, transhumanism, utilitarianism, *I don't frickin' care*.

Transhumanism does not need an Enemy to survive as a meme.

-- 
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky                          http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence



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