I don't have everything scanned in yet, but there's some good stuff in this set, ranging from creepy ("Breeding Human Beings to Order") to Just Plain Interesting ("Space Navigators - Not Needed").
Bonus for AI folks: check out Norbert Wiener's "Thinking Machines may Peril Mankind" warning here:
"It is quite in the cards that learning machines may be used to program the pushing of the button in a new pushbutton war."
(Hint: don't let the robots near the punchcard stack!)
7 comments:
Well your going to get humans cloned to order eventually. They'll be the new rich boy toy. Genetically engineering humans who are not legally regarded as human, thus they'll just be expensive humanlike pets they can abuse in all manner of disgusting ways.
GJ, how do you justify that level of certainty?
Because its already done with non-cloned humans.
There are humans not legally regarded as humans? Where? (I know de facto slavery exists, but that's not what you said.)
Gash, I highly recommend that you read this article -- it discusses how people's thoughts on genetic engineering, etc. seem to be shaped by science fiction scenarios.
I honestly don't think there's a precedent for the enslavement of "cloned-to-order" humans. Identical twins are basically clones of each other, and if anyone tried to suggest that one half of the twin pair ought to be enslaved on that basis, people would be properly horrified. I think that the real promise of cloning isn't in "copying" entire bodies, but in growing individual organs, etc., that could be used for transplant and not be rejected.
Sentient beings are basically (and rightly) regarded as ends unto themselves, not as "tools" or "spare parts". So if you have a being who is sentient, it won't matter how they came into existence. They'll still be treated (at least by ethical folks) as real people, as they should be.
Oh, and nickptar: unfortunately, there ARE some humans who are not treated as human even if they might be legally regarded as such. (Here is an example...not for the squeamish.) This is a serious problem, but has nothing to do with genetic engineering.
Also nickptar. In some countries there are still people regarded legally as being beneath others or as other than human because of their beliefs/gender/ethnicity.
And slavery has existed for centuries. And to their owners slaves are not human.
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