Thursday
Following on from my post earlier about what sort of things might be regarded as wrong or intolerable by future generations that are widely done now, this book by David Friedman (son of Milton F), which looks at potential future legal, scientific and ethical controversies, looks interesting. For instance, Friedman asks what might happen to inheritance wrangles where the "deceased" is in fact held in cryonic suspension and hence not technically dead, as might be defined in a specific legal code. Some of this stuff might appear pure science fiction, but SF has a way of sometimes becoming reality. After all, the very fact that many people can afford to not use animal products such as leather has been made possible by synthetic fibres and materials such as plastic, something that did not exist about 100 years ago. Other developments could also make certain moral controversies either irrelevant or shift the boundaries markedly, or raise controversies that no-one has to contend with now.
On the dystopian side, the developments going on in IT might raise such worries about how the state might try to do things like implant computer chips into people's bodies as a sort of ID system. Only the innocent have anything to fear...
The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton by Larry Niven had an interesting look at legal treatment of the cryogenically frozen
Posted by Amcguinn at January 8, 2009 09:13 AM
Another likely source of ethical dilemmas will be AI, as this linkfrom some 5 years ago points up.
“Attorney Dr. Martine Rothblatt filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent a corporation from disconnecting an intelligent computer in a mock trial at the International Bar Association conference in San Francisco, Sept. 16, 2003. The issue could arise in a real court within the next few decades, as computers achieve or exceed the information processing capability of the human mind and the boundary between human and machine becomes increasingly blurred.”
Posted by ian at January 8, 2009 01:43 PM
One thing along those lines that I've thought about is how the "information wants to be free" movement will view the technology, often envisioned in science fiction, for direct transfer of information from brains to silicon. Do I have as much right to remember your life as you have? Does memory want to be free?
Posted by William H Stoddard at January 8, 2009 02:23 PM
As you do, I suspect that a day will come when the idea that most people in advanced countries were "unchipped" will seem odd.
As will the possibility, if one chooses, of doing generally untraceable financial transactions via cash.
Posted by staghounds at January 8, 2009 04:00 PM
For those who want to read Future Imperfect, DDF has a version of it on the web. Some of his other books, fiction and nonfiction are also on his web site.
Posted by Sam at January 9, 2009 03:59 AM
Sam, thanks for posting that link. I've read the first part and am enjoying the book.
Posted by Laird at January 11, 2009 04:51 PM
