Billy_Brown comments on Not Taking Over the World

1Eliezer_Yudkowsky15 December 2008 10:18PM

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Billy_Brown15 December 2008 11:19:07PM0 points [-]

This is a great device for illustrating how devilishly hard it is to do anything constructive with such overwhelming power, yet not be seen as taking over the world. If you give each individual whatever they want you’ve just destroyed every variety of collectivism or traditionalism on the planet , and those who valued those philosophies will curse you. If you implement any single utopian vision everyone who wanted a different one will hate you, and if you limit yourself to any minimal level of intervention everyone who wants larger benefits than you provide will be unhappy.

Really, I doubt that there is any course you can follow that won’t draw the ire of a large minority of humanity, because too many of us are emotionally committed to inflicting various conflicting forms of coercion on each other.