[Hplusroadmap] Ethics section

[Dan Bolser]

On 10/02/2008, Bryan Bishop <kanzure at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sunday 10 February 2008, Chris Norwood wrote:
> > Wow, I am impressed at what you all have been getting done. I think
> > it important to also have an ethics section or links to bio-ethics as
> > it is regular practice now and people are more scared of garage-style
> > experiments going awry than larger-scale ones since procedures and
> > controls are very light.
>
> I have given many hours of thought to the problem of ethics. Suppose
> that a trouble-maker shows up on the scene and wants to do something
> harmful. Having written a document on ethics on a site somewhere will
> not do much help, it never does. Instead, I think what we need is a
> task force that will be able to respond to the growing pains of people
> who might be looking to cause some damage ... i.e., be their friend and
> make sure they are OK and keep them talking and so on. That's the only
> way that we can prevent any significant damage. A responsive community
> of sorts. A few documents on ethics on the site isn't going to detour
> troublemakers, but it could help, given the right presentation, on
> which subject I am open to suggestions.
>
> "Thou shalt not deply a superbacterium to destroy the human race." ??

Thats more of an ethical rule of thumb than an ethical argument.
Teaching ethics is important for exactly the above reasons - it tells
us how to behave, how to think, what to do. Its not easy, but it would
be great to see some forward thinking bioethics / biosophy. Normally
all ethical considerations lag behind the existing technology, but
that need not be the case.

I'll try and add some pointers to some future ethical issues (as I see
them) as time permits.





>
> - Bryan
> ________________________________________
> Bryan Bishop
> http://heybryan.org/
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