From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Sat Apr 26 2003 - 00:15:59 MDT
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
> Some excerpts from Congressman Brad Sherman's words in the House
> Committee on Science hearing on "The Societal Implications of
> Nanotechnology", Wednesday, April 9, 2003.
>
Most interesting. I find myself more worried by this sort of
increased political attention than pleased. Especially I find
talk of giving the majority of humanity a say very disturbing.
The vast majority of humankind today is not even literate and
certainly mostly irrational. If even the literate majority kill
things like stem cell research what do you think they would do
toward technology that might make them and all humans obsolete
or hardly like themselves in many ways within a generation or
two? I don't believe it will be pretty. And if such does come
to pass, which I believe is quite likely, will all of us happily
accept that the majority or powers that be have spoken and roll
up our dreams and work and wait for death to overtake us? Or
will we choose differently? Will we have the will and the means
to choose differently when (not if) such a time comes?
- samantha
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