[extropy-chat] darfur

[Eliezer S. Yudkowsky]

J. Andrew Rogers wrote:
> On Apr 30, 2006, at 2:59 PM, Ned Late wrote:
> 
>>Here's another spin on this: in the sixth paragraph you'll notice a  
>>Ron Fisher wrote that participating in the darfur genocide protest  
>>is a "socially responsible, good conscience thing to do". Feel  
>>Goodism. That is to say it makes me feel better-- 'look at me, I'm  
>>so decent I'll take time out from my day to go to a protest'.
> 
> The vast majority of activism is exactly this.  Why?  Because it is  
> cheap.  It is a way to reap most of the social benefits of being an  
> activist without the expense and discipline required to actually  
> solve social problems.  80% of the personal benefit, 20% of the cost,  
> and negligible impact on the underlying problem.  Unfortunately, this  
> type of behavior has a history of encouraging the perpetuation of the  
> problem, as "solving the problem" becomes a cottage industry with a  
> number of perks (c.f. Jesse Jackson).

I agree.

If you haven't signed up for your country's military or directly lobbied 
political decisionmakers to send forces to Darfur, and instead you're 
posting to the Extropian mailing list, you've already declared that your 
priority is transhumanism.  That's a defensible decision.  I doubt that 
Darfur will cause so much as two whole weeks worth of planetary 
casualties before playing itself out.  So I concentrate on defeating 
death, the death of individuals and the death of worlds.  I think that 
maximizes my leverage.  If I'm wrong about that, I guess I've damned 
myself.  And if you choose to concentrate on Darfur and choose wrongly, 
sacrifice planet-hours and tens of thousands of lives for the sake of a 
warm fuzzy feeling, that damns you even more thoroughly.  So live up to 
the choice you've already made.  Focus hard on what you believe is more 
important than an ongoing genocide.  If it's more important than an 
ongoing genocide, it surely deserves your full attention.  If other 
people look at you funny, all the more reason to keep up your focus. 
Because those other people won't do your work, and it's all up to you. 
But don't pretend that yelling about Darfur accomplishes spit.  That 
disrespects the dead.  Find some other way to get your warm fuzzies than 
showing off how hard you can cry.  If you care more about Darfur than 
anything else, then get off this mailing list and into uniform.  If you 
don't care enough to do that, then shut up so you can concentrate on 
whatever it is you think is more important.  Try not to damn yourself 
and good luck with that.

Sincerely,
Eliezer.

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