[extropy-chat] What the #$?! are rights anyway?

[A B]

Hi Stuart,
   
  I don't understand either why any tranhumanist would consider this an inappropriate topic - seems critical to me.
   
  My take on it is that in reality, "Rights" have no independent existence. They are the imaginary but useful creation of intelligent beings. That's not to say that I think that they have no value - I value them more than my own life. I'm just saying that I don't think they have any existence or meaning outside of the mind of a subjective agent. However, I think that they are critical to the long-term success of a civilisation. The purpose of governments-by-consent, from my perspective, is to enforce the protection of these (created) "Rights" for *all* humans (and I hope eventually for *all* conscious beings). I think that one of the most sure-fire ways to botch the Singularity would be to disassemble democratic governments altogether and replace them with a "everyone for themselves" - system. If the Singularity somehow did still manage to occur under those conditions, I doubt that it would be a very "positive" result.
   
  Best Wishes,
   
  Jeffrey Herrlich   



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