[extropy-chat] ethical issues with children

[Jef Allbright]

Spike wrote: 

> Yes, we are talking two different things here.  The list you 
> gave are ethics.  I do not expect ethics* to change much over 
> the centuries.  But when I asked about values, what I meant 
> was what are the things we should be teaching our children 
> are of value to do with one's life?

I'm repeatedly enticed into discussions of alchemical ethics, of which
there is an abundance since compared to physics, ethical thought is
still at the pre-enlightenment stage.

Just as with physics, we can expect to see increasing *convergence* and
refinement of our knowledge of ethical decision-making effective over
increasing scope, with increasing *divergence* and variety in its
manifestations.

<snip>

> *I can think of one ethical principle which is entirely new 
> and important to teach to children today: it is immoral and 
> unethical to buy *anything* from a spammer.  One should avoid 
> all products that are advertised at no cost to the seller, at 
> the expense of others.

Spike, I would suggest that you've put forth an ethical rule, rather
than a principle.  The deeper and more general principle has to do with
reciprocity and positive-sum interaction leading to mutual growth.

Oh, for a primer teaching our children ethical prototypes based on
evolutionary psychology, game-theory and complex adaptive systems for
the promotion of human values!
 
- Jef