[net.ai] AI & Morality

mort@brl-bmd@sri-unix.UUCP (08/16/83)

From:  Morton A. Hirschberg <mort@brl-bmd>

  The human manner has led to all sorts of abuses.  Indeed your latest
series of messages (e.g. Spaf) has offended me.  Maybe he meant
humane?  In any event there is no need to be vulgar to make a point.
Any point.

  There are some of us who work for the US government who are very
aware of the threats of exporting high technology and deeply concerned
about the free exchange of data and information and the benefits of
such exchange.  It is only in recent years and maybe because of the
Japanese that academia has taken a greater interest in areas which
they were unwilling to look at before (current economics also makes
for strange bedfellows). Industry has always had an interest (if for
nothing more than to show us a better? wheel for bigger!  bucks).  We
are in a good position to maintain the military-industrial-university
complex (not sorry if this offends anyone) and get some good work 
done.  Recent government policy may restrict high technology flow so
that you might not even get on that airplane soon.

[...]

Mort

mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (08/22/83)

==========================
  There are some of us who work for the US government who are very
aware of the threats of exporting high technology and deeply concerned
about the free exchange of data and information and the benefits of
such exchange.
==========================
It is not clear whether the author of this article is concerned about
the increasing restrictions that are being placed on the necessary
flow of information required for the advancement of technology,
or concerned about the fact that people outside the USA may find out
what people inside are doing.

I hope the former concern is the one intended! We (the Western world)
can easily lose whatever technological advantages we have if we go
overboard in restricting information flow.
We win by being firstest with the mostest, not by crawling into a shell
and hugging our antique ideas.

Martin Taylor