[ExI] The Manifesto of Italian Transhumanists

Bryan Bishop kanzure at gmail.com
Sat Mar 8 17:11:05 UTC 2008


On Saturday 08 March 2008, John Grigg wrote:
> On 3/7/08, Bryan Bishop <kanzure at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Friday 07 March 2008, John Grigg wrote:
> > > In the name of national security (and the unspoken desire of
> > > corporations to keep their stranglehold on the economy) we will
> > > see the possibility of nanotech "anything boxes" most likely
> > > squelched
> >
> > You have nanotech (bacteria) all around you. And it's not
> > squelched.
>
> We humans need tools to research and utilize nanotech.  I see
> governments using a "war on drugs" approach if necessary to halt
> "home nanotech."  But then again, the war on drugs has in many ways
> been a failure.

War on nanotech -> kill all your cells?

> > > If the U.S. does not protect it's technology base by better
> > > security, improving public education, etc., you will see in your
> > > lifetime our steep decline.  It will be a very sad thing.
> >
> > Decline in what?
>
> Economic power, environmental quality, standard of living, global
> influence, military power, etc...

In the case of nanotech, economic power will be meaningless: only the 
ability to self-replicate will be power. Environmental quality we will 
have to deal with, maybe by figuring out how to make our own new 
environments or work synergistically with the ones we already have, 
standard of living is a definition based off of rGDP so that's just 
economics, and a decline in military power doesn't sound too bad to me, 
as long as we do in fact have the nanotech.

> > > > > Nationalism is a two-edged sword.  On the one side it can
> > > > > cause
> > > >
> > > > It is also more fud.
> > >
> > > It can be at times.  But do you really think other powerful
> > > nations always have our best interests at heart? lol  Life is not
> > > just cooperation but also competition.  Nature teaches us that. 
> > > And it still holds true for humanity.
> >
> > What are you talking about? I didn't even mention 'nations' having
> > best interests at heart etc. Specifically, you are promoting the
> > concept of nationalism even when we know that we can make things
> > and build solutions to our human problems, you are just pointing to
> > archaic methods of cooperation which can be surpassed.
>
> You kept on mentioning FUD.  "Fear, uncertainty, doubt."  When/if
> nanotech gets to the point where common citizens can make/or are
> close to making their own personal "anything boxes," we will see
> governments reflexively clamp down so hard your head will spin.  They
> will take the FUD meme and whip it into overdrive as they struggle to
> maintain control.  The current "war on drugs" and "war on terror"
> will seem extremely mild by comparison.

"The more you tighten your grip, the more we slip through your fingers."

- Bryan
________________________________________
Bryan Bishop
http://heybryan.org/



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