[alicebot-aiethics] translation of Hawking, oh my god what is the fuss about?

[Christopher Fahey [askROM]]

Tamara said:
> His use of terminology that might seem Nazi, IMHO, is 
> probably a red herring and not of great importance.  

Just to set the record straight, I don't think Hawking is a Nazi. But I
do think that his techno-enthusiasm may not be sufficiently tempered
with an understanding of human nature and of history -- and that such a
lack of sensitivity is a bad thing for such an eminent thinker. Even in
English, to refer to a "superman" out of the context of comic books is
quite clearly a reference to eugenics and, by extension, to the Nazis.
When asked if they advocated research into "creating a super man to
replace homo sapiens", most well-informed English-speaking people *I*
know would instantly express emphatic disgust at the suggestion.

I sometimes fear that there is a certain intellectual type of person
whose abilities in logic and technology far surpass their understanding
of world history and human nature - and that these people put some
interest and thought into ideas like granting rights and benefits based
on IQ, institutionalizing or euthenizing the elderly or the ill,
sterilizing the mentally ill or handicapped, etc.  I fear that such
people will not notice (or worse, they will celebrate) when such ideas
cross the line from unthinkably irresponsible and evil theories into
real-life policy proposals. One thing to remember about the 30s in
general is that intelligent people all over the world, including in the
USA, were openly discussing ideas about how to mold the species through
eugenics.  These people are not evil, but they are dangerous and need to
be educated.

On another topic you've raised: My understanding of the way German kids
are taught about WWII is that they portray the Nazis (in many cases
their parents and grandparents) as some pretty bad people. IMHO, most
Germans seem to hate Hitler and Nazism more than most Americans do. Most
Americans have a pretty dim and cartoony idea of how one of the most
advanced, cultured, and civilized countries on earth turned upside down
into a death machine. Most American kids know more about why Darth Vader
turned to the dark side than why millions of Germans did. This is
another reason why I fear casual talk of eugenics - we seem to have
forgotten so much.

Back on the AI issue, I guess I just wanted to point out that certain
ideas are located on a slippery slope towards losing some of our own
deeply held values regarding human rights. For example, I am somewhat
troubled at our discussion of whether the young or the old are more
'valuable'. I find it ethically difficult to even discuss it. But I also
know that it's foolish to avoid the subject altogether. Society will
eventually have to have this debate argued openly, even in courts of
law, but I hope that such debates will always keep one careful eye open
to the Nazism pages of the history books.

-Cf

[christopher eli fahey]
art: www.graphpaper.com
science: www.askROM.com