From: Samantha Atkins (sjatkins@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Aug 19 2007 - 17:06:31 MDT
On 8/15/07, Tom McCabe <rocketjet314@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> First of all, a recession does not qualify as a
> dystopia. We've been through much worse, even in the
> past hundred years. The "rise of Islam" in Europe is a
> non-issue.
A sufficient economic collapse can well qualify as a dystopia especially in
its aftermath of conflict at home and abroad. The danger from Peak Oil are
in my opinion the most pernicious at this time. One day soon the world at
large will realize its energy supply is in much more perilous shape than it
has been led to believe. Many of the US recent actions around the world
make little sense unless you assume Peak Oil is real and that much of the
leadership knows it. The Energy Wars that will likely result will be quite
dangerous for all our dreams.
Secondly, the general public's attitude is currently a
> non-issue. The vast majority of people are
> scientifically illiterate, and probably would not
> understand the implications surrounding the
> Singularity, even if you explained it to them in great
> detail.
That the general publy is scientifically illiterate was not such good news
for stem cell research. If we are lucky AGI will not enter the public and
political consciousness before it is too late.
If the world becomes sufficiently inflamed I doubt very much that we are
going to manage to save it all by somehow creating a massively FAI as we
burn. A certain minimum amount of stability and freedom is essential.
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jul 17 2013 - 04:00:58 MDT