From: Michelle (michelle@barrymenasherealtors.com)
Date: Thu May 30 2002 - 14:51:42 MDT
Thanks for clearing the mystery about the word up, Hermit!
The creation of a life form that can direct its own evolution is a concept
that does call for some serious decision-making before it's done, which is
almost never how things work - as you say, folks out there are quite close
already, and yet there's not even public consciousness of the rights issue.
One way to keep such beings from surpassing us or competing with us
(out-competing, more like) would be to ensure that they have no control over
any aspect of the physical world - but that's not likely. The people who
make creating such beings their life's work won't stand for limits, they
will want them to be free and become the beautiful creatures they were
created to be.... That's, I guess, why the rights question is a tough one.
It seems like in your scenario rights wouldn't even be an issue. The genie
would be out of the bottle and drinking from it while it whips us puny
mortals into submission. I mean, really, at a rate of evolution of "many
millions of times per second", who needs rights? Within 5 minutes they'd be
so far ahead of us we'd be as easy to manipulate and control as garden
tools. So, as soon as they're advanced enough to merit rights, they might
well be too advanced to need them or care about having them.
Ethics, now... Tell me this: just because we happen to be creating them
(and therefore observing them very closely), we will know that these
creatures are self-aware, they will get special consideration. There will
be public outcry over whether their existence is morally permissible,
whether they deserve protection, whether they signal armageddon, whatever.
But we treat animals however we like, and we don't even try to figure out,
for the most part, whether they _are_ self-aware. It infuriates me to
ponder how much better these beings will be treated simply because we are
watching and testing them, when people are still EATING whales and putting
elephants in slave labor. What about comparing intelligence and
self-awareness between synthetic and organic non-human life at that point?
If we grant rights to "spirothetes", shouldn't we at least _check_ to see if
any of our homegrown organic species are getting the shaft?
-Michelle
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