122
6 A Planetary-Scale Threat
is the idea. The ultimate goal would be immortality and omnipotence
65 —and the
creation of a new kind of human. Unfortunately, experience tells us that, whenever
someone tried to create a new kind of human(ity), millions of people were killed. It
is shocking that, even though similar developments seem to be on the way again, the
responsible political and legal institutions have not taken proper steps to protect us
from the possible threats.
6.16 Algorithm-Based Dying and Killing
It is unclear how the transhumanist dream
66 would be compatible with human
rights, sustainability and world peace. According to the “3 laws of transhumanism,”
everyone would want to get as powerful as possible. The world’s resources would not
support this and, hence, the system wouldn’t be fair. For some people to live longer,
others would have to die early. The resulting principle would be “The survival of the
richest”.
67
Many rich people seem to like this idea, even though ordinary people would have
to pay for such life extensions with their lives (i.e. with shorter life spans). Most likely,
life-and-death decisions, like everything else, would be taken by IT systems. Some
companies have already worked on such algorithms.
68 In fact, medical treatments
increasingly depend on decisions of intelligent machines, which consider whether a
medical treatment or operation is “a good investment” or not. Old people and people
with “bad genes” would probably pay the price.
It seems that even some military people support this way of thinking. In an unsustainable and “over-populated” world, death rates on our planet will skyrocket in this
century, at least according to the Club of Rome’s “Limit to Growth” study.
69 Of
course, one would not want a World War III to “fix the over-population problem”.
65 According to the “Teleological Egocentric Functionalism”, as expressed by the “3 laws of transhumanism” (see Zoltan Istvan’s “The Transhumanist Wager”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_
Transhumanist_Wager, accessed on July 31, 2020):
(1) A transhumanist must safeguard one’s own existence above all else.
(2) A transhumanist must strive to achieve omnipotence as expediently as possible–so long as
one’s actions do not conflict with the First Law.
(3) A transhumanist must safeguard value in the universe–so long as one’s actions do not conflict
with the First and Second Laws.
66 It’s Official, the Transhuman Era Has Begun, Forbes (August 22, 2018), https://www.forbes.com/
sites/johnnosta/2018/08/22/its-official-the-transhuman-era-has-begun/ (accessed on July 31, 2020).
67 Rushkoff [11].
68 Big-Data-Algorithmen: Wenn Software über Leben und Tod entscheidet, ZDF heute (December
20, 2017), https://web.archive.org/web/20171222135350/, https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute/
software-soll-ueber-leben-und-tod-entscheiden-100.html.
Was Sie wissen müssen, wenn Dr. Big-Data bald über Leben und Tod entscheidet: „Wir sollten
Maschinen nicht blind vertrauen“, Medscape (March 7, 2018) https://deutsch.medscape.com/artike
lansicht/4906802.
69 Meadows [12], Meadows et al. [13].
6 A Planetary-Scale Threat
is the idea. The ultimate goal would be immortality and omnipotence
65 —and the
creation of a new kind of human. Unfortunately, experience tells us that, whenever
someone tried to create a new kind of human(ity), millions of people were killed. It
is shocking that, even though similar developments seem to be on the way again, the
responsible political and legal institutions have not taken proper steps to protect us
from the possible threats.
6.16 Algorithm-Based Dying and Killing
It is unclear how the transhumanist dream
66 would be compatible with human
rights, sustainability and world peace. According to the “3 laws of transhumanism,”
everyone would want to get as powerful as possible. The world’s resources would not
support this and, hence, the system wouldn’t be fair. For some people to live longer,
others would have to die early. The resulting principle would be “The survival of the
richest”.
67
Many rich people seem to like this idea, even though ordinary people would have
to pay for such life extensions with their lives (i.e. with shorter life spans). Most likely,
life-and-death decisions, like everything else, would be taken by IT systems. Some
companies have already worked on such algorithms.
68 In fact, medical treatments
increasingly depend on decisions of intelligent machines, which consider whether a
medical treatment or operation is “a good investment” or not. Old people and people
with “bad genes” would probably pay the price.
It seems that even some military people support this way of thinking. In an unsustainable and “over-populated” world, death rates on our planet will skyrocket in this
century, at least according to the Club of Rome’s “Limit to Growth” study.
69 Of
course, one would not want a World War III to “fix the over-population problem”.
65 According to the “Teleological Egocentric Functionalism”, as expressed by the “3 laws of transhumanism” (see Zoltan Istvan’s “The Transhumanist Wager”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_
Transhumanist_Wager, accessed on July 31, 2020):
(1) A transhumanist must safeguard one’s own existence above all else.
(2) A transhumanist must strive to achieve omnipotence as expediently as possible–so long as
one’s actions do not conflict with the First Law.
(3) A transhumanist must safeguard value in the universe–so long as one’s actions do not conflict
with the First and Second Laws.
66 It’s Official, the Transhuman Era Has Begun, Forbes (August 22, 2018), https://www.forbes.com/
sites/johnnosta/2018/08/22/its-official-the-transhuman-era-has-begun/ (accessed on July 31, 2020).
67 Rushkoff [11].
68 Big-Data-Algorithmen: Wenn Software über Leben und Tod entscheidet, ZDF heute (December
20, 2017), https://web.archive.org/web/20171222135350/, https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute/
software-soll-ueber-leben-und-tod-entscheiden-100.html.
Was Sie wissen müssen, wenn Dr. Big-Data bald über Leben und Tod entscheidet: „Wir sollten
Maschinen nicht blind vertrauen“, Medscape (March 7, 2018) https://deutsch.medscape.com/artike
lansicht/4906802.
69 Meadows [12], Meadows et al. [13].