X-Message-Number: 15929 Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 13:48:31 -0500 From: Sabine Atkins <> Subject: Re: an apology Dear John: Thank you very much for your message. But please don't feel bad: I wasn't offended. I knew you were just joking. :-) When I was 14, I read the original (English) version of "1984". It was in in the year 1984, and I was deeply shocked by the things described in this book. However, I never thought that Big Brother was kind of an AI. I thought of Big Brother as the mask of a group of the highest government officers. The description I recently read is: Mysterious omnipresent figurehead who is the embodiment of all the ideals of the party. All the best wishes, Sabine >Message #15922 >From: "john grigg" <> >Subject: an apology >Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 03:03:00 > >Sabine, > >I wish to publicly apologize for any given offense. I did not mean with my >"heil big brother AI" comment to consciously infer the government of Germany >in the late thirties and early forties. I had in my conscious mind the >world Orwell created in his classic novel "1984." But unconsciously I >brought up the word heil while forgetting the national origin of it since in >the minds of so many it epitomizes evil mass movements everywhere. > >I realize you and others at the Singularity Institute believe AI can and >must be developed to benefit humanity. And ultimately I think if highly >advanced AI does hurt humanity it will be due to the fact that other humans >designed and instructed them to do so. I hope our race will have the wisdom >to treat our yet unborn mind children with the respect and even love which >they will deserve. > >very best wishes, > >John > > > >_________________________________________________________________ >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >End of CryoNet Digest >********************* > > -- Sabine Atkins http://www.posthuman.com/ -- Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence http://singinst.org/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15929