Psychoengineering was Re: [extropy-chat] The existential threatofinternational law

[Hughes, James J.]

> Compare Swedes 
> with Americans - look at the economic growth rates, general 
> affluence, and cultural diversity to see the pernicious 
> effects of state-enforced conformity. Compare North and South 
> Korea, and then compare Hong Kong and mainland China.

These are all comparisons of different kinds of states, not states vs.
anarchy. I completely agree that a liberal democratic state is superior
to a totalitarian state (Korea and China) and I do not agree that a
comparison of Sweden and US favors the US on the whole. On cultural
diversity the 7 million Swedes have admitted far more refugees per
capita than we have, and "general affluence" is rather meaningless if it
doesn't make people generally healthy and well-educated, as it does in
Sweden to a greater degree than the US.

See for instance:

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NORC: Americans' Personal Misery Has Increased Since Early 1990s

(Americans) think that their lives have not gotten better as they report
more incidents of illness, inability to afford medical care,
unemployment, pressure to pay bills, and unstable romantic
relationships.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/517023/?sc=dwhr

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> The WG could save us from the borg, 
> just as you say, but only by preventing the singularity and 
> by universally suppressing scientific progress. 

That's like saying the only way to address spam is to ban computers.
There are many public policies that we can and should pursue to ensure
cognitive liberty in a psychoengineering future, and to keep imperialist
borganisms in check, that do not involve technology suppression. In
fact, universal access to certain kinds of technology, such as firewall
software, is one way to fight borganismic imperialists.

J.