[extropy-chat] Freedom and Practicality

[Lee Corbin]

Samantha writes

> If live [life] becomes largely focused only about avoiding certain forms
> of death is it still worth living?

I suppose that it is. Large numbers of animals live in constant
fear of predators; many humans historically throughout their
lives lived in fear of marauders, criminals, or just animals.
Life goes on. You get used to it rather quickly.

Eliezer writes

> > Just how much damage---feelings aside---have the police
> > or the government done to you lately?  How much damage
> > have terrorists?
> 
> Terrorists have done a completely insignificant amount of
> damage because there are just not many terrorists around.
> 
> Certainly, I personally have been a lot more damaged by
> government than by terrorists.  No terrorist has ever done
> anything at all to me personally.  But every time I pay my
> income tax...

Yes, perhaps one-third (!) of one's earnings are appropriated
by the government.

> I'm not saying that this answer should determine the course
> of the debate, but Lee, it was a silly question.

Well, no one is perfect.  Of course the answer is that (the
way most of us here look at it) the government hurts us so
far much more than terrorists.

It was an honest question; I wasn't trying to make a rhetorical
point. I should have asked how fearful are you of your government
as opposed to terrorists?  As I said before, where I live I'm
about equally  intimidated by the police and by thieves/murderers,
(including terrorists) and that's comfortably the way it should be.

However, suppose that instead of 40,000 deaths per year
from traffic accidents, next year it was 20,000, but
another 20,000 deaths arose from a new Christian fanatical
religious group. People would be a lot more terrified of
the fanatics than they are of the automobiles, which 
shows the importance of psychology to the human animal.


But as the ease with which one person can kill thousands or
later millions of others, safeguards will be taken, either
before a frightening incident or after. I myself, just don't
happen to be especially upset about having every particular
detail of my life on public display. (I'm a follower of 
Brin's Transparent Society.)

Lee