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From: laborda@helix.nih.gov
Subject: Re: Ethical Concerns?
Message-ID: <1995Jan6.120118.22354@alw.nih.gov>
Keywords: Ethics
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Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 12:01:18 GMT
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In article <shea.1225.000BDD34@marcam.com> shea@marcam.com (Tim Shea) writes:
>I'm half way through Artificial Life by Stephen Levy, and I've yet
>to see any mention of ethical concerns associated with creating
>artificial life. Apologies if it was discussed here & I missed it.
>
>OK, so if you're SIMULATING some aspect of life in an attempt to
>understand more about it, that's probably no biggie. 
>
>But let's say you're of the opinion that life is about the organization
>and evolution of complex, self-reproducing structures, independent
>of their physical nature. And you manage to create something which
>is "alive" by that definition. Do you feel OK pulling the plug? Is it OK 
>to send self-reproducing machines out to colonize other planets? 
>Any chance some form of alife might come back to compete with us?
>
>Seems like many alifers feel like this is the next logical step in
>evolution, and that there's something out there that WANTS to be
>created. Should we do this just because we can?
