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Remember the movie Equilibrium? Before anyone gets too excited, it's wise I believe to live by the idea: Don't cheer a powerful tool that you would not want yo
by goatcode 6y ago
Remember the movie Equilibrium? Before anyone gets too excited, it's wise I believe to live by the idea: Don't cheer a powerful tool that you would not want your worst enemy using against you, or in ways with which you do not agree.
- Whitespace 6y agoI understand your sentiment WRT political tools, but to bring it back to the medical therapy discussion: I cheer surgery/chemotherapy while also not wanting my enemies to use surgery/chemotherapy against my will (which amounts to torture)
- goatcode 6y agoFair point, definitely. Maybe I should say it's wise to soberly consider all the uses of something, even when its initial use case is something we happen to like. A really decent sci fi novel that does some stuff around this question is "The Trigger" by Arthur C. Clarke: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/117844.The_Trigger https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/117844.The_Trigger if anyone wants a good read on the subject. Risking a spoiler: it deals with the importance of the question from a couple of pretty compelling directions, by the end.
- Whitespace 6y agoAhh yes, with "soberly" being the operative word here. Is there a political variant of Buyer's Remorse? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyer%27s_remorse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyer%27s_remorse
- goatcode 6y agoI think it used to be Gallows Giddiness, but apparently we don't do that anymore.