Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.7.0.7 $; site uiucdcsb
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!columbia!topaz!pierce!cord!desoto!packard!ihnp1!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcsb!mcdaniel
From: mcdaniel@uiucdcsb.Uiuc.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Protector psychology
Message-ID: <139600013@uiucdcsb>
Date: Mon, 22-Jul-85 19:48:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucdcsb.139600013
Posted: Mon Jul 22 19:48:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 28-Jul-85 06:16:33 EDT
Lines: 37
Nf-ID: #N:uiucdcsb:139600013:000:1629
Nf-From: uiucdcsb.Uiuc.ARPA!mcdaniel    Jul 22 18:48:00 1985


Something has been bothering me about the psychology of Niven's
human-origin Protectors.  To remind people:  human-origin Protectors
are humans infected with a certain virus.  There are a few minor
physical changes, like almost unlimited life.  The mental changes are
superintelligence and a desire to protect his/her relatives and/or
humanity in general.

However, consider two sets of human protectors mentioned in the Known
Space series:

Truesdale and the protectors of Home: They decide to break out of the
hospital to spread the virus, killing the majority of the population of
Home (several million people).  Many of these people killed are their
relatives.  They do this to preserve humanity in general in the long
term, most of whom they are unrelated to (order of 20 billion people).
They seem to have no major qualms about this.

Teela Brown and the protectors of Ringworld: She refuses to use the
solar flare/laser system to save Ringworld from imminent destruction.
Several trillion (?) "people" are going to die in a few years, but she
refrains because using the system would kill 5% of the population.

So what gives?  Is killing a few million relatives OK but killing a few
trillion hominids not? Is the kill-to-saved ratio the correct parameter
to consider?  I don't understand.  Any speculation?

------------------

Tim McDaniel; CSRD at the Silicon Prairie
(Center for Supercomputing Research and Development at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Usenet: ...{pur-ee|ihnp4|convex}!uiucdcs!mcdaniel
Csnet: mcdaniel%uiuc@csnet-relay.arpa (really!)
Arpa: mcdaniel@Uiuc.arpa
Bitnet: MCDANIEL@UIUCVMD