It could form, but I don't see how much good it would do unless there was a substantial consensus in favor of not torturing ems, so that people in the Association gain by having more/better people to associate with than those not in the Association, and so that the Association has a chance of succeeding in its use of violence.
There are also practical problems-- some people would probably like to spend time in challenging simulations. What's the boundary between that and torture, and how do you verify consent?
It could form, but I don't see how much good it would do unless there was a substantial consensus in favor of not torturing ems, so that people in the Association gain by having more/better people to associate with than those not in the Association, and so that the Association has a chance of succeeding in its use of violence.
Indeed.
Compare to the anti-abuse Association, which I don't see happening any time soon:
1) All members interact only with people in the Association.
2) Everyone in the Association agrees to submit to random surprise inspections of t...
When I was reading The Seven Biggest Dick Moves in the History of Gaming, I was struck by the number of people who are strongly motivated to cause misery to others [1], apparently for its own sake. I think the default assumption here is that the primary risk to ems is from errors in programming an AI, but cruelty from other ems, from silicon minds closely based on humans but not ems (is there a convenient term for this?) and from just plain organic humans strikes me as extremely likely.
We're talking about a species where a significant number of people feel better when they torture Sims. I don't think torturing Sims is of any moral importance, but it serves as an indicator about what people like to do. I also wonder how good a simulation has to be before torturing it does matter.
I find it hard to imagine a system where it's easy to upload people which has security so good that torturing copies wouldn't be feasible, but maybe I'm missing something.
[1] The article was also very funny. I point this out only because I feel a possibly excessive need to reassure readers that I have normal reactions.