Re: [unrev-II] WILL SPIRITUAL ROBOTS REPLACE HUMANITY

From: Eric Armstrong (eric.armstrong@eng.sun.com)
Date: Mon Apr 10 2000 - 14:28:48 PDT

  • Next message: Frode Hegland: "RE: [unrev-II] Digest Number 88"

    Henry van Eyken wrote:
    >
    > A word of thanks for your reportage on the April-1 events at Stanford
    > U.,
    >
    Thanks.

    > and also about your earlier mention of the availability of the video
    > sometime soon.
    >
    To be fair, it was someone else who mentioned that.

    > As things stand, it is my strong impression that people do not wish to
    > face
    > potential facts and prepare for them. In my own lifetime, many heard
    > Hitler's rantings, learned about crystal night, saw troop movements
    > along the fabulous Autobahns and, like Chamberlain, believed in peace
    > forever
    > after. In my lifetime, many have for years observed the rapid melting
    > of the
    > polar ice caps, perhaps discussing that calamity over drinks that heat
    > up
    > rapidly once the ice in them has melted. In my lifetime, the
    > deteriorating
    > effect of free radicals on the ozone layer has been known for many
    > decades
    > (very early in the seventies, I happened to see an English translation
    > of a Russian paper on the subject). Etc.
    >
    Damn good observation. The dangers are real, but we are going to
    optimistically underestimate them, because that is the way we are wired.

    And, as one of the newspaper correspondents who evaluated Joy's
    arguments said: relinquishment is not an option, because doing that
    would mean a totally coordinated effort among all the people on this
    planet, and when has *that* ever happened? So I think we can safely rule
    out relinquishment as impractical, as well as undesirable (given
    Merkle's arguments).

    What does that leave? Personally, I'm starting to think we should maybe
    be praying for the second coming of the big comet. (I happen to think
    there is evidence for the plausibility of that scenario.) There is an
    outside chance, though, that if we focus on rapid-reaction defense using
    super-powerful computers, coupled with reasonable security controls on
    access to information, and if we intently focus on removing any cause
    for bitterness on the part of individuals and countries throughout the
    globe, then we might be able to muddle through to the end of the
    century.
    If we get that far, were probably good for the long haul.
     

     
    > So, what the deuce is my opinion worth?!
    >
    Stop it.
    It's worth a hell of a lot.
    Especially as expressed above.

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