[extropy-chat] Is the future under control?

[Anders Sandberg]

Randall Randall wrote:
>
> On Jan 15, 2007, at 12:01 PM, Anders Sandberg wrote:
>> As for the control of the future: whenever I hear somebody say that
>> technology is out of control and must be controlled, I ask what
>> they think
>> about art. Clearly art is out of control, you are allowed to paint and
>> sculpt in any style you like, with any subject you can come up with
>> and
>> affecting any mind coming into contact with it. Shouldn't that be put
>> under societal control? After all, art affects society as deeply as
>> technology. Usually "we must bring X under control" means that "I
>> want to
>> control it according to my values".
>
> And what do you say when they tentatively agree with you
> about art?

Then I happily go on reductio ad absurdum to see how much wilder things
they want to regulate. After all, we need to make sure that gardening is
done properly. And churches need to be government certified so they are
not crazy cults, nicht wahr?

People who think everything should be regulated often get into a spin when
they realize that there might be other regulators out there who want to
regulate just as much as they do, but from completely different values.
That often drives them to flip to a very anti-regulation perspective.

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