Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT 2071-75 (Dec. 5-9, 2011)

<< < (12/98) > >>

Cornan:

--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 05 Dec 2011, 08:45 ---Philosophy has mostly taken for granted that philosophers were always human.

Now there's a new viewpoint in the world, a fresh look at all the old questions.

--- End quote ---

I know you used the word "mostly" as a qualifier but I still want to point out that the school of Philosophy of Mind has been talking about things like that for a hundred-plus years by now. There's been a lot of brain power and a ton of ink devoted to the fact that Philosophy regarding the human condition is inescapably tied to its experience by humans. What that means in itself is up to some pretty heavy debate depending on what school of thought you end up traveling down but the question is pretty widely noted and discussed.

I would even venture to make the argument that the entire school of Phenomenology is an attempt to look at the human experience in such a way as to explain it to one who hasn't had the same experience. I would imagine that the QC AI Philosophers would be pretty big into Phenomenology and Hume (who was not a Phenomenologist, strictly speaking, but had a really interesting Philosophy of Mind).

Blackjoker:

--- Quote from: Vista on 05 Dec 2011, 10:09 ---Man, it's really strange that someone would make the argument that progress should be examined philosophically.  Uh...yeah, the Wright brothers didn't think about the consequences of airplanes, they had bigger concerns...so no one should?  So...irresponsible....
It's an ice cube effect, opposite of a snowball effect, and often a backlash to fringe groups.  The fewer people think "maybe we should consider not progressing in this way technologically, even if it means lowering our potential standard of living, because hey maybe it's a gateway drug to the illusion of international understanding or nukes which are good for no one," the fewer people will think so.
Still, I'm willing to be irresponsible to advance the cause of our robot masters.
Because they would, realistically, replace us once we can mine asteroids.

--- End quote ---

It depends on the nature of the progress. AIs are one such example, when humanity proves capable of literally producing a unique intelligence there are actually some big philosophical questions that come with that. Do we give them the right to vote, to participate equally in society with humans? If no then we're effectively making them eternal second class citizens, but if we do there are issues that come up with an AI being able to vote. If they can copy themselves endlessly does each copy get a vote? What about that fact that the machines are hypothetically immortal? IF you want to avoid AIs what about cloning? I'm not saying that progress shouldn't occur, hell I'm a bit of a futurist and I get really annoyed when fundies start trying to pollute the pool of knowledge with things like creationism or say that we're 'playing god' when we study genetic manipulation or research. Doesn't mean though that there aren't questions that should be asked.

westrim:
Marigold's attitude is the reason that the discovery of a planet that is solidly in the habitable zone of its star is going mostly unnoticed today, a minor headline in the science section of news sites- if they have a science section- instead of front page news. Most of them will simply carry the AP report, which spends a good portion of its length repeating basic facts, like what a light year is. The cable news channels will mention it as a 30 second blurb every cycle, and the network news will spend about 15 seconds on it.

I don't like Marigold's attitude.

Paranoid:
Not sure where I see the problem here, at least with this particular example.  Don't get me wrong, I'm as excited as the next sci-fi geek about the possibility of another habitable planet out there.  But let's face it, no one currently living will ever see it up close, and giving the next generation even odds at reaching is generous at best.

Is it cold in here?:
Barring an Alcubierre drive.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page