I try to adhere to the principle that “there are no stupid questions”, but this question, if not necessarily stupid, is definitely annoying.
Do you ask the same question of opponents of climate change? Opponents of open borders? Opponents of abortion? Opponents of gun violence?
The world is full of things which are terrible, or which someone believes to be terrible. If someone, whether through action or inaction, is enabling a process that you think might kill you or cripple you or otherwise harm you, or people you care about—et cetera—then yes, violence naturally comes to mind.
But there are obvious reasons to be cautious about it, and to be cautious about talking about it. If you do it, you may end up dead or in jail. Despite your emotions, your reason may tell you that a single act of violence won’t actually make any difference. You may be afraid of unleashing something that goes in a completely different direction—violence, once unleashed, has a way of doing that.
On top of that, if you’re a civilized person, you don’t ever want to resort to violence in the first place.
… OK, with that off my chest: if I do try to empathize with the spirit in which this question might have been asked, I imagine it as a young man’s question, someone for whom the world is still their oyster, and someone who, while not an aggressive thug, is governed more by their private ethical code and their private sense of what is right and wrong, than by fear of the law or fear of social judgment or fear of unintended consequences. Willing to consider anything, and trusting their own discernment.
And then they stumble into this interesting milieu where people are really worked up about something. And the questioner, while remaining agnostic about the topic, is willing to think about it. But they notice that in all the discussion about this supposedly world-threatening matter, no one is talking about just killing the people who are the root of the problem, or blowing up their data centers, or whatever. And so the questioner says, hey guys, if this thing is really such a great danger, why aren’t you brainstorming how to carry out these kind of direct actions too?
I’ve already provided a few reasons why one might not go down that path. But the other side of the coin is, if there are people on that path, they won’t be talking about it in public. We’ll just wake up one day, and the “unthinkable” will have happened, the same way that we all woke up one day and Russia had invaded Ukraine, or the ex PM of Japan had been assassinated.
Do you ask the same question of opponents of climate change? Opponents of open borders? Opponents of abortion? Opponents of gun violence?
They’re not the same. None of these are extinction events; if preventing the extinction of the human race doesn’t legitimise violence, what does? (And if you say nothing, does that mean you don’t believe in the enforcement of laws?)
Basically, I can’t see a coherent argument against violence that’s not predicated either on a God, or on humanity’s quest for ‘truth’ or ideal ethics; and the latter is obviously cut short if humans go extinct, so it wouldn’t ban violence to prevent this outcome.
I try to adhere to the principle that “there are no stupid questions”, but this question, if not necessarily stupid, is definitely annoying.
Do you ask the same question of opponents of climate change? Opponents of open borders? Opponents of abortion? Opponents of gun violence?
The world is full of things which are terrible, or which someone believes to be terrible. If someone, whether through action or inaction, is enabling a process that you think might kill you or cripple you or otherwise harm you, or people you care about—et cetera—then yes, violence naturally comes to mind.
But there are obvious reasons to be cautious about it, and to be cautious about talking about it. If you do it, you may end up dead or in jail. Despite your emotions, your reason may tell you that a single act of violence won’t actually make any difference. You may be afraid of unleashing something that goes in a completely different direction—violence, once unleashed, has a way of doing that.
On top of that, if you’re a civilized person, you don’t ever want to resort to violence in the first place.
… OK, with that off my chest: if I do try to empathize with the spirit in which this question might have been asked, I imagine it as a young man’s question, someone for whom the world is still their oyster, and someone who, while not an aggressive thug, is governed more by their private ethical code and their private sense of what is right and wrong, than by fear of the law or fear of social judgment or fear of unintended consequences. Willing to consider anything, and trusting their own discernment.
And then they stumble into this interesting milieu where people are really worked up about something. And the questioner, while remaining agnostic about the topic, is willing to think about it. But they notice that in all the discussion about this supposedly world-threatening matter, no one is talking about just killing the people who are the root of the problem, or blowing up their data centers, or whatever. And so the questioner says, hey guys, if this thing is really such a great danger, why aren’t you brainstorming how to carry out these kind of direct actions too?
I’ve already provided a few reasons why one might not go down that path. But the other side of the coin is, if there are people on that path, they won’t be talking about it in public. We’ll just wake up one day, and the “unthinkable” will have happened, the same way that we all woke up one day and Russia had invaded Ukraine, or the ex PM of Japan had been assassinated.
They’re not the same. None of these are extinction events; if preventing the extinction of the human race doesn’t legitimise violence, what does? (And if you say nothing, does that mean you don’t believe in the enforcement of laws?)
Basically, I can’t see a coherent argument against violence that’s not predicated either on a God, or on humanity’s quest for ‘truth’ or ideal ethics; and the latter is obviously cut short if humans go extinct, so it wouldn’t ban violence to prevent this outcome.
Some people definitely say they believe climate change will kill all humans.
OK, well, if people want to discuss sabotage and other illegal or violent methods of slowing the advance of AI, they now know to contact you.
As do law enforcement.