a reply to:
Ksihkehe
On the few occasions in which you express your opinion, it is always measured, sensible and rational. And, as in this case, accurate.
Killing the messenger when we don't like the message is already a deeply rooted paradigm, a paradigm that only evidences anger on the part of the one
receiving the message. FL only observes, collects data using existing local resources, and its mission is none other than to leave a record of what it
has observed so that those who come after it can continue to understand and comprehend a civilization. In this case the human one.
The idea that a planet with billions of inhabitants can be governed by a small group of people is frustrating in itself, but this idea is opposed by
this other idea: that this small group of people is not always homogeneous, nor monolithic, nor are they people who get along well with each other.
This is good news, but it is also bad news in the sense that when faced with existential problems on a planetary scale, one needs a solid chain of
command, a clear doctrine, and a value system that is shared by all those billions of beings.
Changes always begin within the individual and gradually spread to the rest of society. But for this to happen, the individual must be well informed,
prepared to understand the information and interpret the data, and be a rational being capable of making fair and ethical decisions that take into
account the rest of the planet. When information is merely power, science is a commoditized object, society is a consumer group and data becomes a
weapon, someone must at least point out the deficiencies so that others can be aware of why certain things happen and ask themselves if those events
could have been different.
I do not see SV17q as a group with nefarious goals, nor as a shadowy group with a hidden agenda. Their agenda was always clear: to mark the limits of
rationality in the actions of those megalomaniac leaders, in the actions of greedy and childish businessmen. To draw red lines that should not be
crossed, not because this or any other action is morally reprehensible, but because it is not equitable.
When a company develops a technology with dire consequences that affect the entire population of this planet, simulating those consequences and
exposing that company to the consequences of its own actions is intended to "educate" it emotionally. What is not acceptable is to make decisions that
affect others without consulting them. And in order to count on them, everyone must be perfectly informed of the decisions that are made and on the
basis of what those decisions are made. That, in my view, is what SV17q does.
As far as FL is concerned, we just observe, note down events, study them, break them down and present them in a cold and objective way.
Humanity is not stupid. It knows perfectly well what is wrong and what is right from an ethical point of view. It knows perfectly well that the only
option is a sustainable civilization, based on equity and social justice. It knows that. And it knows perfectly well which are the red lines that must
not be crossed. It knows them well. No one has to come in from outside to teach them the obvious. No angels, no gods, no benevolent aliens.
Humanity is perfectly aware of its biological limits, and knows how to identify the most harmful and psychopathic elements among its own. The problem
is not passivity, nor a lack of interest, nor having given up fighting injustice, nor is it a general madness in which sociopaths win. The problem is
the profound asymmetry in the means available to each other, the divorce between science and the society it serves, the divorce between the value
system and those who believe in those values.
Blaming the weak (society) is the easiest thing to do. And the most unfair. And those who blame society for all its ills are always the same: those
few who long ago stopped feeling part of it, locked in their laboratories, in their universities, in their centers of power, in their banks, in their
offices.
It is against those few that SV17q directs its actions.