I think an under-discussed ethical issue is whether or not some technology/knowledge should be off-limit, or only be available to qualified people. Synthetic Life has a massive potential to benefit or destroy the human race, and we're gonna let just anybody learn about it? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Another issue is that of whether machines can ever be sentient. The unconscious view of most atheists (i.e. the majority of people) is that consciousness is purely an emergent phenomena. I disagree with this view, but I think within a hundred years we'll consider strong optimization algorithms to be non-human people. The question then becomes, what about animals? I think humanity's treatment of animals will become an important moral issue before I die.
The use of computers to discover crimes and the power this gives by making it possible to create new kinds of crimes that would previously be unenforceable.
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[ 2.2 ms ] story [ 18.2 ms ] threadAnother issue is that of whether machines can ever be sentient. The unconscious view of most atheists (i.e. the majority of people) is that consciousness is purely an emergent phenomena. I disagree with this view, but I think within a hundred years we'll consider strong optimization algorithms to be non-human people. The question then becomes, what about animals? I think humanity's treatment of animals will become an important moral issue before I die.