On 10/25/06, Russell Wallace <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
But nothing like your scenario has ever come close to occurring. No First
World nation has ever seriously threatened to attack another over
development of technology. What's happened is that there have been attacks
or threats thereof on Third World nations - not over development of new
technology, of which the sort of country likely to be a target is quite
incapable, but over acquisition of existing technology which is already well
proven and whose existence is not in question; the only controversial issue
is whether some nasty totalitarian regime should be allowed to join the
major powers in possessing it. This can result in violence to be sure, but
it's a completely different thing from the "Cosmists vs Terrans" fantasy.
Nuclear weapons are not even that much of threat compared to nanotech.
All it requires is someone to display without doubt (or have be in the
position to make powerful people lie about it) that a country has such
technology. The world would then demand they forfeit the technology,
but having invested money and resources into it's development they'll
be unlikely to do so - and in particular I don't see the US deciding
to abandon it.
But more importantly, if any government started preventing my access
to self-enhancement technologies - then you better believe I'm going
to get polarised on their ass. I doubt the 'Cosmist vs. Terran' was
ever meant in the country vs country way - it'd be through terrorism
on enhancement centers, public marches gone wrong and general social
unrest.
( Personally I'd be reminded of the X-men universe where
mutants/enhanced-humans are feared for their difference and superior
powers/ability. Not that I'm basing my beliefs on a comic book )
--
-Joel
"Wish not to seem, but to be, the best."
-- Aeschylus
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