Archive May 2012
This is an archive of articles that Lincoln Cannon published in May 2012. An annual archive for 2012 is available. And a full archive of all articles that Lincoln has published since 2005 is also available. You may also search for articles and other content that's available on any of Lincoln's websites.
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Becoming God Can Be Cruel and Irrational
“God is cruel,” says Hank Pellissier, managing director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technology. Here are my thoughts in response. Hank, there’s considerable irony in your post. The charge that theism is illogical presents significant practical and logical challenges for a Transhumanist. You trust in humanity’s posthuman potential. ... -
Imagine a 1970 Journal Entry on Blacks and Priesthood
In 1978, the LDS Church extended priesthood to blacks. Prior to that time, some Mormons doubted the divinity of the priesthood ban. Subsequent to that time, some Mormons doubted the divinity of the priesthood extension. This evening, I was imagining what it might have been like in the early 1970s ... -
How strong are constraints on intelligent purpose?
In “The Superintelligent Will: Motivations and Instrumental Rationality in Advanced Artificial Agents,” Nick Bostrom argues briefly for the idea that the intelligence and the purpose of an agent are mostly independent. He calls this the “orthogonality thesis.” I’m not persuaded by his reasoning. He acknowledges three constraints on the relation ... -
Should you persuade me of your ideology?
Should we attempt to persuade each other of our ideologies? Some of us avoid proselyting. Others, such as Mormons, heartily embrace proselyting. While I don’t think all forms of proselyting are good, and I don’t think all ideologies (or all interpretations of any ideology) are worthy of proselyting, here are ...