[extropy-chat] The Immortal Class: Admissions Criteria

[Anders Sandberg]

giorgio gaviraghi wrote:
> Furthermore , at least in most europeans countries,
> the biggest criticism to transhumanism is not if it is
> feasible or not , but that it will create a class o f
> immortals and a class of underdogs who will not be
> able to afford immortality.
> That is the main issue against the entire movement.
> Let's not give them the right ammunitions against us.

Guess why I am - as part of an EU project - trying to pick that argument
apart? If nothing else I hope the ENHANCE project will help make this
issue a bit better understood.

It is interesting that this argument is so popular in Europe, since "we"
Europeans tend to officially believe in that governments not only should
but actually can achieve equitable redistribution. My guess is that most
Europeans tend to know deep down that it doesn't work well at all, and
this makes the worry big. This is why James Hughes ideas are so
wonderfully loaded here - they force people to actually decide a bit
beyond being opposed.

It is a bit like hearing bioethicists proclaiming the personhood of
embryos, but being utterly non-interested in saving the 60% of all people
killed by spontaneous abortions (more dead than all other causes taken
together). There is a huge discrepancy between beliefs, but they prefer
not to think about the problem. Proposing multibillion programs for
research into saving these embryos to these bioethicists forces them to
take a clearer stand.

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University