Sliding scale of personhood?
I've been thinking more about the concept that there exists a sliding scale of personhood rather than all-or-nothing. Some ramifications are disturbing. If we grant the right to life to infants, and grant the right to freedom to adults, which are considered basic "human" rights, does this mean we should grant expanded rights to the elderly? I don't consider there to be a further stage of naturally-occuring mental development after adulthood. In fact, mental plasticity gradually hardens into a rigid inflexibility around the age that I am going to reach next week, and I don't consider that a good thing.
But I added the term "naturally-occuring" because I have to speculate about technologically-enhanced posthumans that become >S1 during the 21st century. (>S1 stands for "greater than the first singularity. This means a self-enhancing entity having breached the first singularity level or "toposophic" in Orion's Arm, an online collaborative worldbuilding project. Feel free to ignore my bizzare jargon when I start to sound disturbingly like Scientology or Dianetics.) How would we know when there exist beings in relation to whom adult baselines are like children? I expect that decision won't lie in our hands to make. Children are at the mercy of adults. So, that situation does not and can not exist, by definition, until and unless baselines are at the mercy of >S1s.
But if the human race knows it is at the mercy of its creations, I would have to question how smart these intelligences really are to allow baselines to be aware of such a belligerent provocation. My own home was one of all-out no-holds barred war, endless power struggles between the parents and the children. My father recognized his legitimate authority, but didn't seem to make a distinction between authority and power. Make no mistake, children may not have legitimate authority, but children have power-- the power to make their parents' home a living hell. Children are similar to a hostage taker in that regard. One has to negotiate with the little anarchists. Instead we all just suffered for our pride. I clearly see from my experiences that the best way to lead is not to push one's authority in the face of the governed and demand their willing submission. If >S1s ever truly rule the solar system, they'll grant baseline humans some self-determination and a seat at the table... or at least the illusion of it...
Comments
reginator on Jun. 11, 2004 6:55 PM — Re: Kids have cooties.
Besides all that, kids smell funny. Have you ever smelled one? They're nasty beasts, the lot of them. The timeless combination of snot, grass, other people's snot, and a refusal to bathe on a regular basis make it difficult, at best, to like children.
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