Right - for the record when I use words like "loony" in this sort of context I'm not commenting on how someone might come across face to face (never having met him), nor on what a psychiatrist's report would read (not being a psychiatrist) - I'm using the word in exactly the same way that I would call someone loony for believing the Book of Revelations will literally come true at the end of the Mayan calendar, that they've been called to make a spiritual rendezvous with a flying saucer following a comet, etc.
Ah, OK. In that sense, I believe at least 90% of the world's population is loony, because they believe in God -- which is a far more fanciful and less probable notion than De Garis's "artilect war" ;-O In fact, the US is a nation ruled by a combination of loonies and loony-impersonators, since there are no (or nearly no) nationally elected officials who are admitted atheists...
> Do you think that De Garis's scenario of a massive violent conflict > between pro and anti Singularity forces is not plausible? > When was the last time you saw ten geeks marching in formation, let alone ten million? Seriously, there's a better chance of massive violent conflict between likers of chocolate versus strawberry ice cream.
**Seriously**, I definitely don't agree with your last statement ;-) And, I don't think you're trying very hard to understand how such a war could viably come about. Suppose that some clever scientist figures out how to construct molecular assemblers with the capability to enable the construction of massively powerful weapons ... as well as all sorts of other nice technologies... Suppose Country A decides to ban this nanotech because of the dangers; but Country B chooses not to ban it, because of the benefits... Now, suppose A decides the presence of this nanotech in B poses a danger to A ... So, A decides to bomb B's molecular-assembler-construction facilities... But, unknown to A, perhaps B has already engineered some nasty pathogens... Etc. I'm not talking about a situation of Geeks versus Ludds carrying out hand-to-hand combat in the streets... and neither is De Garis, really... Looking at the political situation in the world today, regarding weapons of mass destruction and nuclear proliferation and so forth, I don't find this kind of scenario all that farfetched --- if one assumes a soft takeoff... It is definitely not in the category of the chocolate versus strawberry ice cream wars [or, as in Dr. Seuss's Butter Battle Book, the war between the butter-side-up and butter-side-down bread-butterers ... ] -- Ben G ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
