From: Philip Sutton (Philip.Sutton@green-innovations.asn.au)
Date: Sun Jan 11 2004 - 21:14:42 MST
Ben,
> Sure, I do value life in all its forms. I also value nonlife however ...
> I value natural forms like the Grand Canyon, the Southern Alps, etc. etc.
> There are a host of values one would like to inculcate in addition to
> friendliness to past/present/future sentients. Examples are, respect for
> -- life
> -- diversity
> -- complexity
I agree with all of this.
Maybe there's an ethicica structure that covers all the stuff of the
universe - that is multi-layered.
At one level we can value anything that interests or engages or moves
us - because of *our* feelings/wants/desires in the relation to the
entity/process in question or what we see the entity/process
representing. But I'm not sure that this is what we are striving for in the
discussion of friendliness. In this context I think we are looking for an
ethic or ethics that guide our relationship with the 'other' in order to
protect the 'other' in some way. ie. it goes beyond enlightened self-
interest. We are looking, I think, at an ethic or ethics of altruism.
I think there could be a hierarchy of respect for:
- sentients (everywhere, past, present, future)
- life in general (everywhere, past, present, future)
- non-life (everywhere, past, present, future)
How one respects these things/processes at each level of the hierarchy
would be different (and within the hierarchical levels). Also what an
AGI would be enjoined to protect through its altruistic ethic of respect
would vary at each level of the hierarchy.
Cheers, Philip
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