By manipulation of environment and social engineering, the super-soldiers think that their only reason for existence is fighting war on our behalf. Questioning the purpose of the war is suppressed, as are non-productive impulses like art, scientific curiosity, or socializing. In short, Anti-Fun.
I’m not saying it would be possible to create these conditions in a human-intelligence population. I’m saying it would be immoral to try.
So they would naturally feel differently about fighting in wars with different causes and justifications? If not, why suppress it?
non-productive impulses like art, scientific curiosity, or socializing.
If they have desires to do these things then the reason they were created may have been to fight, but this is not their “only purpose” from their perspective.
Yes, what’s immoral is the shoehorning. They would think that there is more to life than what they do, if only they were allowed freedom of thought.
One might think that it is possible to create human-level intelligence creatures that won’t think that way. But we’ve never seen such a species (yes, very small sample size), and I’m not convinced it is possible.
So in short you aren’t talking about a race of supersoldiers whose only purpose is really to fight wars for us, you’re talking about a race of supersoldiers who are pressured into believing that their only purpose is to fight wars for us, against their actual inner natures that would make them e.g. peaceful artists or musicians instead.
At this point, we’re not talking about remotely the same thing, we’re talking about completely opposite things—as opposite as fulfilling your true utility function and being forced to go against it—as opposite as Fun and Anti-Fun.
By manipulation of environment and social engineering, the super-soldiers think that their only reason for existence is fighting war on our behalf. Questioning the purpose of the war is suppressed, as are non-productive impulses like art, scientific curiosity, or socializing. In short, Anti-Fun.
I’m not saying it would be possible to create these conditions in a human-intelligence population. I’m saying it would be immoral to try.
So they would naturally feel differently about fighting in wars with different causes and justifications? If not, why suppress it?
If they have desires to do these things then the reason they were created may have been to fight, but this is not their “only purpose” from their perspective.
Yes, what’s immoral is the shoehorning. They would think that there is more to life than what they do, if only they were allowed freedom of thought.
One might think that it is possible to create human-level intelligence creatures that won’t think that way. But we’ve never seen such a species (yes, very small sample size), and I’m not convinced it is possible.
So in short you aren’t talking about a race of supersoldiers whose only purpose is really to fight wars for us, you’re talking about a race of supersoldiers who are pressured into believing that their only purpose is to fight wars for us, against their actual inner natures that would make them e.g. peaceful artists or musicians instead.
At this point, we’re not talking about remotely the same thing, we’re talking about completely opposite things—as opposite as fulfilling your true utility function and being forced to go against it—as opposite as Fun and Anti-Fun.