[extropy-chat] global warming eats island

[Lúcio de Souza Coelho]

On 12/30/06, Robert Bradbury <robert.bradbury at gmail.com> wrote:
(...)
> Having been "there", at least in my mind, for the sake of brevity on the
> list I will not go there today [1].   And I will humbly suggest that it may
> be better to not dangle such opportunities in front of the Aristoi [2].
> Lúcio, as I believe you are a relatively recent list contributor, *you* may
> not realize what the people on *this* list could do with that simple
> statement.

Your belief is correct, right now I think that one may fairly assign
me to the class of "clueless n00bs" in the list. :)

> The observation is valid.  Now the question becomes how does one
> constrain Aristoi to develop it and enable it to benefit us all?  Is your
> radical transformation Hitler's vision?
(...)

In some sense it is quite the opposite, lets say that I am not that
fond of visions of "purity" and uniformity...

As for how to constrain the Aristoi to "do good" (borrowing another
recurring expression in Greek philosophy) or (using a more
contemporary motto :) "do no evil"... Assuming that there are Aristoi
here (how would you define/identify the Aristoi in an Extropian
context?), the best way to constrain them is to create a set of values
that you think is "good" and that is shared by the Aristoi. While
Aristoi (of any kind) often tend to dismiss the opinion of the Vulgus,
they will take into account the opinion of the Aristoi themselves and
tend to behave according to their own "code of honor".

And so... I suppose that there are discussions on the "ethics of
pos-Singularity transformations" here, aren't they?