Eliezer, thanks. I mostly read OB for the bias posts and don’t enjoy narratives or stories, but this one was excellent.
Tyrrell, we aren’t told how many humans exist. There could be 15 trillion, so the death of one system may not even equal the number of people who would commit suicide if the SHs had their way.
I don’t find the SHs to be “nice” in any sense of the word. In my reading, they aren’t interested in making humans happy. They can’t be—they don’t even understand the human brain. I think they are a biological version of Eliezer’s smiley face maximizers. They are offended by mankind’s expression of pain (its a negative externality to them) and want to remove what offends them. I don’t think any interstellar civilization would be very successful if they did not learn to ignore or deal with non-physical negative externalities from other races (which would, unfortunately, include baby-eating).
The SH did not even seem to consider the most obvious option (to me, at least) which is to trade and exchange cultures the normal way. Many humans would undoubtedly be drawn in to the SH way of life. I suppose their advanced technology makes the cost of using force relatively low, so this option seemed unacceptable. Still, I wonder why Akon didn’t propose it (or did he)?
Eliezer, thanks. I mostly read OB for the bias posts and don’t enjoy narratives or stories, but this one was excellent.
Tyrrell, we aren’t told how many humans exist. There could be 15 trillion, so the death of one system may not even equal the number of people who would commit suicide if the SHs had their way.
I don’t find the SHs to be “nice” in any sense of the word. In my reading, they aren’t interested in making humans happy. They can’t be—they don’t even understand the human brain. I think they are a biological version of Eliezer’s smiley face maximizers. They are offended by mankind’s expression of pain (its a negative externality to them) and want to remove what offends them. I don’t think any interstellar civilization would be very successful if they did not learn to ignore or deal with non-physical negative externalities from other races (which would, unfortunately, include baby-eating).
The SH did not even seem to consider the most obvious option (to me, at least) which is to trade and exchange cultures the normal way. Many humans would undoubtedly be drawn in to the SH way of life. I suppose their advanced technology makes the cost of using force relatively low, so this option seemed unacceptable. Still, I wonder why Akon didn’t propose it (or did he)?