[ExI] How fun could doom intelligent life to a blissful extinction

[Keith Henson]

On Thu, Jul 20, 2023 at 1:31 PM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> On 20/07/2023 20:05, BillK wrote:
> > For countries with nanotech it could help to address the challenges
> > such as resource depletion and environmental degradation. On the other
> > hand, it could lead to a widening gap between rich and poor countries,
> > as those with access to nanotech could reduce their populations while
> > those without would continue to grow.
> >
> > The distribution of nanotech is also an issue. If it falls into the
> > wrong hands, it could be used for harmful purposes, such as
> > bioterrorism or the development of new weapons. It is therefore
> > essential to develop effective mechanisms for controlling the
> > distribution and use of nanotech safely to poorer countries that hate
> > the developed world.
> >
> > If nanotech with virtually unlimited power is developed, then humanity
> > will only survive with total control over how every member of the
> > population uses nanotech. Perhaps an AGI which monitors and controls
> > the behaviour of every human will be required.
> > Humans are a very unruly mob to be given unlimited power.
>
> Now I think it might be you who isn't thinking things through.
>
> If advanced nanotech is the panacaea we think it will be, then we should
> encourage its spread to literally everyone in the world.I can't imagine how the spread couple\\ be stopped.

> What are the root causes of terrorism and armed conflict? why do poorer
> countries hate richer ones?

Do you have any link to make this case?  From what I read, the people
of the poor countries want to move to the rich ones.

 If nanotech can indeed cure these problems,
> then restricting it will just exacerbate them.
> Yes, there will be the odd nutters who don't care how well off they can
> be, but just want to cause mayhem, but that's just as true in the first
> world as in the third. Of course we will need defenses against the
> occasional rogue use of nanotech, but to talk about 'the wrong hands' is
> just falling back into the kind of thinking that causes most of our
> problems in the first place.
>
> I think it wll be essential to develop effective mechanisms for widely
> distributing nanotech to every country and individual in the world.
> There will be problems, of course, but the advantages will massively
> outweigh them, I think.
>
> I want to look forward to a future where there is no wealth gap between
> countries, or even between individuals, and I think nanotech has the
> potential to achieve that. Not to mention, of course, its potential to
> completely disrupt authoritarian regimes.

That might not be needed.  An uploaded authoritarian could rule with
an iron hand over a batch of simulated underlings run by an AI.  This
was how the prospective husband lost interest in Zaba in the Clinic
Seed story.

> We've seen what the internet has done. Individually-controllable,
> advanced nanotech would leave the internet in the dust, in terms of
> individual empowerment. Imagine a world where every female on the planet
> has total control of her own reproductive system, just for starters.

In spite of all the politics, that situation is much closer today than
it was in the past.

Keith

> Ben
>
>
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