[oclug] Re: Fwd: Re: Why we have Source code

[Francis Pinteric]

--- Andrew Plumb <andrew at plumb.org> wrote:
> On Thu, 25 Jan 2001, David F. Skoll wrote:
> > On Thu, 25 Jan 2001, Francis Pinteric wrote:
> [deletia]
> > > Nuclear weapons whould be a case in point of bad technology.
> > 
> > Why is that?  If they are used in a controlled and responsible
> way to
> > help build canals, they are "good".  If they are dropped on
> people, they
> > are "bad".  It is how technology is used which is "good" or
> "bad".
> [rest deletia]
> 
> Or the case of a potential "planet killer" meteor impact.  Same
> weapons;
> different purpose.  The old use destroys the global population; the
> new
> use prevents it's destruction.
>

... or perhaps one's perspective (assuming you're into moral
relativism). I personally would stand firmly on the side that says
let the planet killer come and destroy all life so that the planet
can start again. Given the current state of stellar evolution in the
Sun, there might be just enough time for a truly intelligent life
form to present itself and develop the appropriate technology to get
them out into the universe before the Sun starts burning helium in
the core and expands, swalling up the Earth.

Given that, attenpting to stop such a planet killer would be immoral.
Humans, when it comes right down to the nitty-gritty, are pretty
stupid little animals, aren't they?

No, I really don't believe that. The reason why the majority of
humans are so stupid is that they choose to be. It's society that
dumbs down humans with the herd instinct which leads to xenophobia
and the attendent evils that it spawns (racism, nationalism, fascism,
socialism, communism, captialism, Christian, Islamic, Jewish, etc.
Fundementalism, you-name-it-ism). If there isn't a word as
xenophobism there should be. Of course, by my use of it, it is now de
facto a word.

>>>---fja->


>>>--fja->

=====
To say that something is 'nonessential' is to say that
   it is 'unnecessary.'
GUIs, while nice, are nonessential.

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