arromdee@cs.jhu.edu (Kenneth Arromdee) (05/28/91)
In article <callahan.675374699@newton.cs.jhu.edu> callahan@cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan) writes: >Those are my opinions. I am not so much interested in having others >adopt them as in having others admit that there are ethical questions involved, >and *clearly define* the principles they are using before going ahead with >large-scale irreversible acts. It's easy to dismiss my concerns as mere >pedantry or monomania, but as technological power increases, such questions >will become very real. The implication here is that it is possible to postpone "going ahead" with events until their ethics have been decided. This implication is often false; it may very well be that there are consequences of failing to do it which are equally as severe and equally as irreversible as those of doing it. -- "Let's see your power stop me now, Deus ex Machina Man!" [safe falls on villain] "Not bad...." Kenneth Arromdee (UUCP: ....!jhunix!arromdee; BITNET: arromdee@jhuvm; INTERNET: arromdee@cs.jhu.edu)