[ExI] end of worlders - was managing omnicidal maniacs

[William Flynn Wallace]

When Prophecy Fails - book (written by two psychology 'moles') about an end
of the world cult in the 50s.  When the spaceship did not arrive at the
predicted time, saving them and only them from destruction, they went into
a huddle and came up with a different prophecy, rather than turning against
the one they had.  They just changed the date!  Nearly impossible to shake
delusions, esp. religious ones.

An old scifi story sticks in my mind - aliens gas the planet, killing off
all people with IQs below 150.  If you could kill off the teeming masses
some consider no longer needed in this world, what would you do?  Me?
Could not do it, I think.....but it would surely save us a lot of
difficulty and save many animals from going extinct.  What if you could
push the button and make them sterile?

bill w

On Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 11:16 AM, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sep 9, 2015 5:30 PM, "William Flynn Wallace" <foozler83 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > I do wonder who would act if they could push a button and end the world,
> or just humanity.
>
> On the one hand, one can imagine convincing everyone, or at least most
> people, that pushing a certain button - easy to do, pushable over the Web -
> will end all humanity, but all it really does is end their world by killing
> them; anyone still surviving would thus be revealed as not truly believing
> that all should die.
>
> On the other hand, word of the deception would soon get around, and those
> who sincerely believe in negative utility wouldn't simply off themselves.
> Further, many (most?) of those in power who spout off about this actually
> just want other people to die so those in power can enjoy more power, and
> they find no end of excuse to put off their own demise.
>
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