Opposition To SIAI
The following is copied from Wiki Interview With Eliezer/Issues Of Concern:
Do any individuals or groups presently represent implicit or explicit opposition towards the achievement of the Singularity? If so, please elaborate.
Leon Kass and Bill Joy are both certainly implicit opposition. Any group that dislikes science/technology (and yes, they are antiscience and antitechnology, despite some attempts to position themselves otherwise for PR purposes - Greg Burch has an excellent analysis of the ongoing fallout from Rousseau) Anyway, any group that dislikes science and technology also tends to dislike rational thinking, meaning that they are unlikely to be able to see the Singularity as anything but yet more science and technology, and that they are likely to blindly oppose it without being willing or able to grasp the consequences of their actions. So far I think that most of them would be unwilling to accept the concept of a Singularity to begin with, regarding the acceptance of the idea as proof in itself of technolatry, and I'm fine with that, but again, these are all such massive events that it is much easier to influence the future by developing the technology than by playing politics. As seen, I sometimes do try to intervene in politics myself, but only targets of opportunity, like the Reason debate.
Specifically, why do Leon Kass and Bill Joy represent implicit opposition to the achievement of the Singularity?
Anyone ragging on the evils of the "posthuman" is an implicit opposition to the achievement of the Singularity. Basically, I would say that implicit opposition to the Singularity is anyone who believes that the future ought to be just like the past, and who believes that suppressing technologies is a safe and effective strategy for doing so.
