[ExI] Update on the Hawaiian observatory shutdown

[William Flynn Wallace]

Obviously you know more about the necessity of that telescope than I do,
but I do have to be skeptical that it is needed at all.  In any case, are
there any things we could find out from it if it were built that we cannot
find out by other means?  Is that the only location from which we can learn
whatever they want to learn?  And those things - are they important in any
practical way?  Will humans be worse off?  That's my question.  bill w

On Sun, Aug 25, 2019 at 2:31 PM John Clark via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On Sun, Aug 25, 2019 at 11:50 AM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>:
>
> >>  the next time a mob of ignorant lawless thugs who are immune to
>>> reasoned argument try to put a lid on new scientific discoveries don't you
>>> think it would be wiser to fight them rather than run away and hide? With
>>> such an opponent there can only be 2 responses, fear or anger. I've made my
>>> choice.
>>>
>>
>> > Fear or anger?  That's all you can think of?
>>
>
> Not necessarily. If my opponent was a scientist with a theory in
> opposition to mine neither fear or anger would be appropriate, fear
> wouldn't help me in a debate and if he's right he would have done me a
> favor but pointing out the error in my theory so I'd be grateful. However
> if my opponent is like the Hawaiian protestors who are illegally blocking
> the road to prevent one of the most important scientific instruments in the
> world and are doing it for a idiotic reason then yes, fight or flight are
> the only things I can think of.
>
>
>> *> Emotional responses? [...]  Meet irrationality with irrationality?*
>>
>
> Ultimately the responses of any intelligent animal or AI are emotional,
> there is no purely logical reason to pick knowledge over ignorance or
> wisdom over stupidity or even existence over nonexistence. Without emotions
> there would be no reason to do X and not Y, there would be no reason to do
> anything. That's why it's so silly to expect that a computer might be
> intelligent but it could never be emotional. Emotion is easy but
> intelligence is hard, at least that's what Evolution found, it came up with
> emotion during the Cambrian explosion but it took Evolution another 540
> million years to come up with our ridiculously enlarged cerebral cortex and
> the sort of intelligence of which we are proud. And that's also why Star
> Trek's Mr. Spock and Mr. Data are so silly.
>
>  John K Clark
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