X-Message-Number: 16881 Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 06:27:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: Value Re life and value: Alice Sheldon (who wrote science fiction under the name James Tiptree, Jr while she was alive) once suggested to me that since our species is survival-motivated, it is natural for us to place positive value on entities similar to ourselves; and since we are complex, anti-entropic creatures, it is natural for us to place positive value on other entities that are anti-entropic and complex. More simply put, life loves life (of course, there are exceptions, such as self-destructive people and sociopaths). I think it was Shannon, originator of the word "cybernetics," who suggested mathematical means to determine noise in a message. Similarly I believe there are objective ways to determine entropy in a system. So, if we accept that human beings find value in low-noise, low-entropy phenomena, this is an objective basis for value. It explains why, for instance, destruction of insects is seen as less heinous than destruction of people, since insects are less complex; and why destruction of a unique, well maintained building is more disturbing than destruction of a slum. I suggest it also explains why a newborn baby is viewed by many people as more valuable than a zygote, although this gets us into more controversial territory. I suggest that in the future, when life can be similated or replicated in large computing systems, a crime such as homicide will be redefined more generally as the crime of destroying unique, complex data of which no copy exists. Personally, I already find the destruction of unique data almost as disturbing as the destruction of life. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16881