[extropy-chat] My Dilemma

[BillK]

On 7/5/06, Robert Bradbury wrote:
> First, it might be good to recognize that humanity is *continually* being
> "wiped out".  There is  no human alive today that was alive ~120 years ago
> [1].  Given the amount that is known  about the possibilities for possible
> bad scenarios I would predict people would probably work to prevent them.
> Is that completely possible?  Probably not.  But there is a relatively high
> probability that worst case scenarios will not develop.  Are we on a course
> for the best case scenarios (there are multiple variants).  Absolutely not.
> For example I can make a very good case that the war in Iraq will in
> retrospect end up having cost millions, perhaps tens of millions of lives
> (due to the fact that that money that will be unavailable for nanomedical
> related developments that would significantly extend the lifespan of
> millions of people).
>

You could also make a case that the war in Iraq will save millions of
lives by driving the Singularity technology forward. Research on
robotic vehicles, robot bomb investigators, robots to go into tunnels,
robot flying vehicles, new weaponry, new medical facilities, new
bionic limbs, new armor technology, new radars, nano technology,
computer systems, ..... the list goes on. There is a vast amount being
invested in pushing research on as fast as possible to support the war
in Iraq.

BillK