[extropy-chat] darfur

[Samantha Atkins]

On Apr 30, 2006, at 7:34 PM, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:

>> 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.

Damn.  You are really into damnation today, aren't you?  :-)

Caring for humanity as a whole but not for any particular humans in  
great danger right now can be a bit troubling a creed.  So can caring  
for various groups right now but missing doing that which is  
effective over the long haul of course.  I think those predominantly  
in either position have things to learn from the other.   Generally I  
don't believe this is an either-or.    If we can stop the continuing  
genocide in Darfur then that is hundreds of thousands and possibly  
millions more  human beings that just might make it relative  
immortality.   I think that is a might more than "a warm fuzzy  
feeling".   Don't you?

- samantha