There's a popular novel on much the same scenario, but in this case it's about a poem that is fatal if distributed. "Lullaby" by Chuck Palahniuk My son devoured it of course.
Phil Henshaw From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Russ Abbott Sent: Friday, January 02, 2009 1:36 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] What to do with knowledge The issue of what to do with knowledge is certainly not an easy one to resolve. Let's assume that you discovered that human beings were built in such a way that a certain kind of virus would wipe most of us out. Let's also assume that you were the only one who knew that. What would you do? Would you attempt to destroy that knowledge knowing how potentially deadly it is? If you did that, how would feel if a nihilistically inclined sociopath discovered the same thing a year later and set off the deadly viral chain reaction? Perhaps if you had informed someone and started to work on a defense, we would not have been so vulnerable to what turned out to be a surprise attack. On the other hand, if you had informed people, perhaps the word would have gotten out and triggered a biological arms race. I'm not claiming there are easy answers to these questions. But I do think it's important not to deny the nature of the universe. The premise of my thought experiment was that we were built with a certain kind of vulnerability. Not knowing about it is not necessarily the best way to proceed. But knowing about it may be dangerous as well. Sometimes there are no good options. But it is not an option simply to wish that the world were different. (Of course it is an option, but it doesn't make the world different.) The same probably holds for nuclear weapons. Whether or not "science" discovered that matter could be converted into energy in what could be very destructive ways, the fact is that matter can be converted into energy in very destructive ways. It does no good to wish that this weren't the case or that no one would every find out about it. That's an act of denial about how the world is. And denial is not a good way to live. -- Russ On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 6:06 PM, Ann Racuya-Robbins <ad...@wkbank.com> wrote: -- Ann Racuya-Robbins Founder and CEO World Knowledge Bank www.wkbank.com "The theory of general relativity is a theory about the structure of nature. It is not noble. It is not evil. It is a theory." Russ Abbott We cannot separate everything into clear categories and thus avoid the tragic consequences....Theories come about because people create them...their(people's) agency cannot be removed nor in the theories' consequnces. ============================================================ 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
