ah the " If not us, it will be someone else " argument.
Let's replace that with other things to show how incorrect this logic is.
"If we don't enslave these people, someone else will"
"If we don't bomb these schools, by golly, someone else will!"
The potential hypothetical existence of others acting immorally simply isn't a valid ethical argument to act immorally.
In the same way the response is "how about if instead nobody bombs the hospital" the response here is "how about if instead nobody builds armies of killer robots"
"no death cyborgs" sounds like a pretty easy ask for humanity. This should be well within reach.
That’s not even a remotely close analogy, no offense meant. Robots can be used for many good purposes. Intel makes processors, they can be riding on a missile or used on a CT Scan. Bombing schools is only horrific, how do you come up with this?
I kind of wish we would just enjoy this stupid video of robots dancing. It’s getting tiring to fend off AI-doomsday crowd.
The statement I responded to specifically focused on military application
"Technological progress will gaurantee this scenario of >> military use << . If not BD, it will be another company. If not now, it will. >> If not the US, it will be someone else << "
This argument is
"Technological progress will (always) lead to military use. If not us, it will be someone else"
or:
"The future is guaranteed to be full of war because of decisions made by humans that they somehow have no agency over. Because of this false premise, we need to be eagerly building weapons as fast as possible"
It's a classic argument and it stands up to no scrutiny whatsoever.
So instead the standard response is to generalize it through a deflection: "this is just general forward motion progress" which is exactly what happened.
That's not the point. It's the idea that the fundamental inescapable nature of humans is to be as violent and brutal as possible - which is not true - it's a choice, an act of agency, a matter of policy, it's a decision that is freely made.
Just getting to that simple realization, that barbaric brutal self-destruction takes choices, planning and intentional action that we can simply just choose not to do, would be a groundbreaking epiphany to most.
I'm pretty confident I'm going to die without murdering anyone, just like almost every human ever. It's not natural in the slightest.
Let's replace that with other things to show how incorrect this logic is.
"If we don't enslave these people, someone else will"
"If we don't bomb these schools, by golly, someone else will!"
The potential hypothetical existence of others acting immorally simply isn't a valid ethical argument to act immorally.
In the same way the response is "how about if instead nobody bombs the hospital" the response here is "how about if instead nobody builds armies of killer robots"
"no death cyborgs" sounds like a pretty easy ask for humanity. This should be well within reach.