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Old 04-29-2012, 11:19 AM   #31
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Religious Prohibitions Leading to Safe-tech

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
The thing is, I can buy a religious proscription on SAIs because their utility is limited. It takes a lot of processing power and the result is something that is both unsafe and unconscionable to use as a tool.

But without some kind of horrible traumatizing historical event, I can't see any reason why a future civilisation would abandon technology that is already widespread.
That's kind of funny, that you defend religious proscriptions by stating as fact your moral opinion.

History is full of disasters and major cultural changes. Look at slavery of people. That was completely acceptable for much of recorded history. Now the very idea is on par with cannibalism for most modern societies.

Imagine a conspiracy of A.I.s plotting against a human group or society. That could easily make biologicals freak out and throw the baby out with the bath water. Overreactions are the human norm.
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Old 04-29-2012, 04:32 PM   #32
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Default Re: Religious Prohibitions Leading to Safe-tech

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
The thing is, I can buy a religious proscription on SAIs because their utility is limited. It takes a lot of processing power and the result is something that is both unsafe and unconscionable to use as a tool.

But without some kind of horrible traumatizing historical event, I can't see any reason why a future civilisation would abandon technology that is already widespread.
Note that I don't want a civilization to get rid of something that is already widespread though.

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Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2 View Post
|Very little rationalization is needed for a safetech prohibition. Many societies have been willing to label any technology they themselves did not create as black magic. Simply slap the label of "black magic" on any unauthorized technology, with elaborate decades-long procedures by religious authorities on releasing new technologies to be sure they are not "unholy", with most technologies failing the test.
That's a description of how something is prohibited, but it unless the prohibition derives from practical reasons it doesn't show why they would consider something worthy of being prohibited.

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
There are real-world sects that forbid computers entirely. A friend bought his house from a family in one of them, who were greatly concerned that he might be someone who used computers. They didn't seem to have a very reliable definition of computer, judging by their two automatic washing machines (at least 16-bit processors), so he just lied about it.
Do you know what sects these would be or for what reason they forbid computers?

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Old 04-29-2012, 04:39 PM   #33
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Default Re: Religious Prohibitions Leading to Safe-tech

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Do you know what sects these would be or for what reason they forbid computers?
These ones were some subtype of Exclusive Bretheren. I don't know their reasons - I never met them, and would probably not have understood their doctrine if I did.
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Old 04-29-2012, 04:57 PM   #34
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These ones were some subtype of Exclusive Bretheren. I don't know their reasons - I never met them, and would probably not have understood their doctrine if I did.
They appear to have loosened the rules recently and allowed followers to buy from Exclusive Brethren computer suppliers. They appear to object to evil communications (television, the radio, and the Internet.) rather than technology perse.
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Old 04-29-2012, 06:50 PM   #35
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Default Re: Religious Prohibitions Leading to Safe-tech

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Originally Posted by cmdicely View Post
Except that computers don't use bits as symbols -- all the symbol-use involved in a computer is symbol use by humans, either in programming the computer or interpreting its outputs.
Vicky might be thinking of bit patterns, which computers do use as symbols for all kinds of things, starting with decimal numbers. Never allowing translations or substitutions, or associative arrays, etc. would let you still have arithmetically sophisticated computers but they'd be like ones in Heinlein's early stories with fairly narrow functions that require the operators to prepare the data with trig tables. "Call off the tangents..."


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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
Bullsnot. You don't need a law to keep from eating poison.
Outlawing lead paint keeps kids from eating that.
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Old 04-29-2012, 07:30 PM   #36
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That's kind of funny, that you defend religious proscriptions by stating as fact your moral opinion.
.
The stupid part is more important than the unconscionable part.
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Old 04-30-2012, 05:22 PM   #37
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Religious Prohibitions Leading to Safe-tech

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...
Outlawing lead paint keeps kids from eating that.
Lead pain is dangerous for far more than just toddlers. And they are prone to ingesting anything they can grab. But we don't outlaw decorative but toxic plants or glass.
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Old 04-30-2012, 05:25 PM   #38
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The stupid part is more important than the unconscionable part.
Stupid how? A.I.s are similar to genetic engineering in my opinion. Their final form is near limitless in potential, but their likely overly ambitious beginnings would be fraught with suffering and disaster.
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Old 04-30-2012, 05:48 PM   #39
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Stupid how?
High risk, low reward. They would be investing enormous processing power in the task of making their slaves less controllable.
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Old 04-30-2012, 05:57 PM   #40
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Default Re: Religious Prohibitions Leading to Safe-tech

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High risk, low reward. They would be investing enormous processing power in the task of making their slaves less controllable.
Could you please stop using words for humans when referring to computer programs?
Sapience does not mean refuses to obey orders. It is simply human level cognition, not human in everything by a long shot.
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