[ExI] The future of the Second Ammendment

[Mike Dougherty]

On Sun, Dec 30, 2012 at 4:37 AM, Anders Sandberg <anders at aleph.se> wrote:
> In a world where everybody can have anything they wish for, we either need
> to ensure that people largely wish for safe and nice things (moral
> enhancement, peer pressure, few reasons to wish for badstuff), or that
> dangerous things or uses are detectable, preventable and/or acted against in
> a consistent way. We should not be surprised that a change in manufacturing
> ability ought to lead to shifts elsewhere in our society and its laws, norms
> and customs.

I am against revoking the right to own guns.  I am not against
increased scrutiny/control on the process of acquiring a gun.  I
wouldn't mind it being difficult, time consuming, and expensive.
That's pretty much what legislation does for/to us, isn't it?  We have
to pay to have our cars registered every year, why aren't guns the
same situation?  I am unable to legally operate a car without a
license (passing sufficient testing on safe operation) as well as
insurance (for when I/others fail to operate the vehicle safely)  Why
is gun ownership less burdensome than car ownership?  I make this case
because more people are killed by auto than by wanton gun violence...
so it seems we would get more "utility" by revoking the right of
automobile ownership - but _that's_ outright absurdity, yes?

3d printing is still in its infancy.  I can imagine Kelly would
acquire one of these devices before the strict controls are applied to
ensure continued "freedom" to operate it.  Of course, the supply of
consumables will be increasingly taxed, regulated, etc until it
becomes a controlled substance and placed under schedules like drugs.
The public generally would rush out to buy the Apple-version of 3d
printer, which only accepts plans/blueprints from the Apple store.
Problem solved:  every item created is approved by a central
authority/source and is carefully logged to the account.  Given the
Intellectual Property issues that 3d printing creates with each
"copied" object, I'm sure the vendor-specific account-controlled 3d
printer is inevitable.

Is this the right time to segue into another pandora's box of
technology, DIY gene sequencing?  Will your DNA sequence be your own
Intellectual Property, a licensed "product" your parents leased from
the baby-factory, or some wild-west equivalent of strongest legal team
can prove/enforce ownership/patent of gene sequences?