[extropy-chat] My Dilemma

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, Jul 06, 2006 at 06:13:57PM +0800, BillK wrote:

> 'Morally abhorrent' is irrelevant. (But nice to know).

Last time something was found morally abhorrent has resulted
in a world war, culminating in deployment of two nuclear
weapons. On a smaller scale, people commiting morally
abhorrent acts are locked up for life, or executed.

Are you really sure that doing something 'morally abhorrent'
is a good idea?
 
> All the wonderful stuff that we now take for granted came out of the
> huge WWII R&D projects.  It would all probably have arrived eventually

Stuff and nonsense. I'm surprised you're buying into such tripe.
What next, NASA gave us the teflon pan?

> at a much more leisurely pace, but the frantic wartime effort produced
> it all within about a decade.

I would like to see a list of "it all".
 
> I am in no way supporting or trying to justify the Iraq war. Just
> pointing out that the heat of this wartime development will have more
> wonders available to us in five or ten years. We will, of course, once

Do you realize the monetary cost of a war? Do you realize the infrastructure
disruption costs, and secondary costs to the the society?
What kind of "wonders" will this campaign bring, such as remote warfare,
autonomous armor, and UAV surveillance of civilian airspace?

> again take these wonders for granted at the same time as regretting
> all the wartime death and injuries.
> 
> We regret the 40,000 road deaths every year in USA, but it doesn't

Are you really comparing something unavoidable (what are the costs
of drowning? Why don't you cease breathing?) with a frivolous campaign,
to the great detriment of the masses and the cynical profit of precious
few?

> stop us taking advantage of cars without trying to severely control or
> restrict them so as to minimise road deaths and injuries.

If I gave you a terabuck, don't you think you could do something to
minimize that? Or do something about the fossil habit of ours?
Or invest into SENS, or nano, or AI, instead of blowing up shit?

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820            http://www.ativel.com
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