Re:Scientists 'Inject' Information into Monkeys’ Brains
by taneq on Friday December 08, 2017 @09:29AM
(#15878778)
Who gives you the right to destroy the brain of a cow or an octopus for eating? Humans kill animals all the time, animals kill animals all the time, if this one ape happened to die slightly differently and got us all closer to data nirvana then isn't that a nobler way to go?
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Re:Scientists 'Inject' Information into Monkeys’ Brains
by the_gastropod on Friday December 08, 2017 @09:54AM
(#15878973)
I think this is a simplistic view. Extend your argument one step further. "If this one human happened to die slightly differently and got us all closer to data nirvana then isn't that a nobler way to go?" Maybe? But it's definitely morally problematic.
Re:Scientists 'Inject' Information into Monkeys’ Brains
by taneq on Saturday December 09, 2017 @02:00AM
(#15884656)
(I wanted to reply to this last night but I hit the rate limiter, heh.)
Whether your extension is morally problematic depends entirely on your moral framework. Modified trolley problems are a good way to examine this: Given a chance to save N people by killing 1, what would N need to be before you'd take that chance? Most people would be outraged at N=5 or maybe even N=100. I think a significant portion would accept at N=100,000.