[ExI] Digital identity

[Ben Zaiboc]

Giulio Prisco <giulio at gmail.com> Wrote:

> "Reward/benefit" is subjective. What one sees as reward/benefit could
> be seen as punishment/damage by another. I am for a world where
> everyone is free to pursue the rewards and benefits that _they_ want,
> without damaging others. This is relevant to uploading: I want the
> science and technology of uploading developed and explained, to permit
> everyone to make _their_ own choice.


While I agree with this, it also needs pointing out that the existence of a choice that never existed before, can introduce an apparently paradoxical /restriction/ of choice.  

Giving everyone a choice in certain things can easily become Hobsons Choice.

For example, the classic scenario of cognitive improvement becoming an obligation rather than a free choice.

Essentially, disruptive technologies don't just give people new choices, they change the rules of the game altogether, and some people think that is a valid objection (I'm not one of them, though).

If and when uploading becomes available, it won't just be a new choice.  It will be an upheaval of massive proportions, and the old contexts within which people make their choices will be shattered.

When you say to someone "Things will be totally different, and you will have marvellous new choices", and they reply "Yes, but I don't have any choice about things becoming totally different, do I?", what do you tell them?  For some people (probably many people, actually), a world where everyone is free to pursue the rewards and benefits that _they_ want, is something they _don't_ want.

Ben Zaiboc