It seems to me that the real problem is with nature. The argument seems to go that knowledge about (dangerous possibility) phenomenon X might be put to bad use. Therefore we should destroy or at least control that knowledge.
I don't think that's completely off the mark. To the extent that we can control knowledge we may be able to develop a bit of a safety buffer for ourselves. I have no problem with a policy that attempts to minimize the spread of information about building nuclear weapons. But the real problem isn't with knowledge about dangerous phenomenon X, it's with X itself. Presumably there is nothing we can do so that X is not part of the world. We can't change nature so that E ≠ MC2. In other words, don't blame the messenger (science) for the message (the world is dangerous) and its corollary (someone who may misuse knowledge about that danger may find out). -- Russ On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 10:08 AM, Marcus G. Daniels <[email protected]>wrote: > Owen Densmore wrote: > >> Bill Joy was ripped for his observation that new technologies are almost >> certain to be misused, and suggested the knowledge be guarded .. >> > For all of his reservations about the fragility of technology and the > limitations of human design, the Internet did happen. That came from the > heroic efforts of a relatively small cadre of engineers, who could see so > plainly what was needed. The implications over the last twenty years for > human communication have been profound and by in large good. For example, > the cognitive surplus in the post-television world and the enormous > economic and intangible benefits of that. Certainly by the time there > were viruses on the internet there were also people that could disassemble > and disable them. > I think the same will be true for robotics and genetic engineering. The > malevolent users of the technology will be relatively ignorant and > inexperienced compared to the creators of it. The creators will have > already witnessed and contemplated the many ways in which things can go > wrong. > > Marcus > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
