From: Samantha Atkins (sjatkins@gmail.com)
Date: Mon Feb 16 2009 - 00:41:09 MST
On Feb 11, 2009, at 4:39 PM, Matt Mahoney wrote:
> --- On Wed, 2/11/09, Charles Hixson <charleshixsn@earthlink.net>
> wrote:
>
>>> 5. What test must a program be able to pass to grant
>>> it human rights?
>>>
>> The primary test would be that it should desire human
>> rights. I'm tempted to say "And express that
>> desire", but that would imply that if it were stopped
>> from communicating, then it wouldn't deserve the rights,
>> and that's invalid.
>
> My point is that ethics is a matter of opinion. Some people say that
> waterboarding is torture and some say it isn't. Some say it is OK to
> eat meat and some say it's not. Some say it is ethical to draw blood
> from a mouse by sticking a needle in its eye. There is no objective
> test to resolve who is right.
I would happily ask those who say water boarding is not torture to try
it for themselves. I am sorry but saying it is all totally
subjective when it comes to ethics will get us all killed.
>
>
> How do you measure sentience? How do you test whether a program
> desires human rights? Is it ethical to simulate pain in a program
> that tries to avoid it, for example, http://www.mattmahoney.net/autobliss.txt
> Prove your answer, because I might disagree.
>
Prove that you are sentient. No? Then we can do to you whatever we
wish, right?
- samantha
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