[extropy-chat] Citizen Cyborg on If Uploads Come First

[Robin Hanson]

At 05:12 PM 3/31/2006, James Hughes wrote:
>>my current leanings are that creatures who might exist should count 
>>in our moral calculus,
>
>Hmm. A long-standing debate in utilitarian theory as you know.

Yup.

>Clearly we want to make policy that will ensure the greatest 
>possible happiness for all the beings that exist in the future, even 
>though we are not obliged to bring them into existence.

I know many disagree on this point, but it seems to me that bringing 
creatures into existence with lives worth living should count as a 
moral good thing, just as I appreciate others having created me and I 
think they did a good thing worth praise.   If so, the prevention of 
vast numbers of uploads must weigh against policies to greatly 
increase per-upload wages.  But this need not be decisive of course.

>It seems like your model in Dawn, if we interpret it as normative 
>rather than descriptive, would fit with
>"the repugnant conclusion" of utilitarianism that we should create 
>as many beings as possible, even if each of them might have less 
>happy lives, because we will thereby create a greater sum of happiness than by
>creating fewer, happier beings. Is that what you mean?

The "repugnant conclusion" has never seemed repugnant to me, which is 
another way I guess I disagree with others in population 
ethics.   But yes this upload scenario offers a concrete application 
of such issues.

>In that sense, if neo-Amish humans refuse to become faster, more 
>able uploads their case for accomodation of their decision is weak. 
>But framing all humans who decide to remain organic as undeserving, 
>self-cripplers in a brave new uploaded world is part of the 
>political challenge your essay points us to. We need to come up with 
>a more attractive frame for the co-accomodation of organic and upload life.

I don't know if a better frame can be found, but I'd be happy to hear of one.



Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323