Re: What to do with knowledge

Posted by Marcus G. Daniels on Jan 02, 2009; 6:54pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Re-What-to-do-with-knowledge-tp2101042p2102789.html

Russ Abbott wrote:
> The argument seems to go that knowledge about (dangerous possibility)
> phenomenon X might be put to bad use. Therefore we should destroy or
> at least control that knowledge.
>
> I don't think that's completely off the mark. To the extent that we
> can control knowledge we may be able to develop a bit of a safety
> buffer for ourselves.
Another approach is to think about what bad things could happen in
theory, and actively develop tools to detect and counter those things.
Things are a superset of people, so espionage can only go so far for
anticipating danger. It's dangerous if sealevels rise 10 feet, or
millions die in an epidemic, just as if jihadists try to blow up
important buildings..

Marcus

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