Future Global Ethical Issues (Excerpt from the State of the Future report)

Issues 2025-2050

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  If technology develops a mind of its own, what ethical obligations would its creator have?
  

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  Again, this is not a right/wrong question.
  

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  If technology grows a mind of its own, can we make sure to have an influence on its behavior?
  

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  We should get on well with it.
  

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  Nurture it so that it becomes ethical.
  

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  What is the Definition and the importance of life? Can we live without transforming our environment? What is the role of the environment in our life? What about the Unity of the Creation?
  

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  What ethical obligations of their own do these new life forms/minds have?
  

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  What ethical guidelines should be put in place to guard against the threat of intended or unintended ‘virus’ exchanges in direct neural brain and computer linkages?
  

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  None
  

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  The same ones human beings face: to see that their actions are for everybody's benefit.
  

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  Is it correct for humans to become one with technology, as a way to prevent technological hegemony?
  

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  This is not a question of ethics.
  

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  Does any government have the right to retard the process of speciation which humanity is undergoing through genetic and mechanical means?
  

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  I do not support cloning of human beings mainly because we humans have a soul that the spirit feeds.
  

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  If we do it anyway, what rights shall them, and common humans, be assigned?
  

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  What obligations do those that change themselves into new species have to themselves, other humans, and other beings or natural systems?
  

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  Should a moratorium be put on the rapid growth of the human organ growth industry when it is used only for aesthetic augmentation purposes?
  

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  Yes, I think so.
  

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  No.
  

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  It's difficult to tell at this moment. In any case, the motives and consequences of this act should be studied and analyzed in depth in order to determine if it is absolutely ethical and benefits humanity.
  

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  Add: should such augmentation be available to all?
  

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  Is it right to control or manage other peoples' artificial intelligence and genetic engineering enhancements to prevent the creation of future elites with superhuman abilities?
  

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  This is an interesting Sci-Fi scenario. What constitutes an "elite' human? We are a concatenation of abilities. How do you select for future environments. The 'best' US solders in Vietnam were the very small men who could infiltrate the tunnels.
  

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  If humanity is going to be formed by elites, what are we going to do with the rest?
  

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  Should we eliminate all concepts about morality and ethics and consider only the rationality of technology?
  

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  What ethical considerations should be contemplated for our use, ownership, or treatment of resources or other life-forms in outer space?
  

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  I don't think so.
  

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  No, I don't think so.
  

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  No. If the future elites are not ethical, they will be more harmful.
  

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  We should not seek to form elites, but more the well being of the whole of humanity. Beings with super human abilities are of no use if these qualities don't come with compassion and ethics.
  

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  The feelings and thoughts stored in our brains have always been considered an inviolate personal sanctum. With in mind transhuman, cyborg, or robotic life forms, should legislation be enacted in order to maintain the privacy of our brains from public scrutiny?
  

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  At what point do we become or cease to become human given the potential to merge humans with technology?
  

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  Not a question of rights. For some it will be a godsend, for others anathema.
  

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  No.
  

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  Yes, I think so.
  

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  No. If there are not many king technology, the society will develop slower than that now.
  

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  If the result is more well being for humanity, yes. If not, no.
  

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  With accelerating advances in psychoactive drugs and virtual reality, should limitations to the pursuit of artificial happiness be guided by the potential for harm to the individual and the society or by some absolute criteria?
  

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  With accelerating advances in psychoactive drugs and virtual reality should happiness be a revised concept?
  

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  Consider deleting this word - ARTIFICIAL -happiness
  

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  These psychoactive drugs are imminent. I would move this question up to 2005-2010
  

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  There always has been. We confuse 'happiness' with 'meaninglessness".
  

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  This question should be in the 2005-2010 section as it is a long neglected and current topic.
  

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  Are technology and ethics related issues?
  

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  I have no memory of artificial happiness. It is an alteration of the natural state of the human beings, and consequently of the family.
  

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  Artificial happiness is an opium dream. It doesn't exist. It's just one new way of suffering. The only sources of pain and happiness are out thoughts, our consciousness. There is no point in setting limits, if no educational movement exists which will lead humanity towards the understanding of reality, towards knowing things as they are. Self-development through ethics and compassion are the only way to interior peace and happiness.
  

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  With increasing choices available for fetal genetic manipulation, should parents be allowed to practice selective breeding, creating ‘designer babies’ at will?
  

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  No, I don't think so.
  

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  No.
  

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  Should the androids (human-machine combination), artificial life forms, and animals whose intelligence has been increased by gene therapy, be given full human rights or semi-human rights?
  

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  Are the rules for robots formulated by Isaac Asimov (including the zeros law) ones that should be imposed as obligations for robots? What rights will/should robots have?
  

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  Put the artificial life one decade earlier.
  

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  Only if they consistently pass the Turing Test.
  

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  Given the needs of generations to come, is it ethical to flirt with immortality and indefinitely extend human longevity?
  

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  No. I think that we would become dependent of the sensitivity of a technological device, and if nowadays many societies deprive their citizens of basic human necessities, it would be worth the trouble to ask ourselves which benefits, like society, would technology contribute to our sensibility?
  

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  No, I think they have no rights.
  

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  No. After all, they are not life
  

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  We should act ethically towards every being and object in the universe. Ethics are what should dictate rights and obligations.