Technology

• What technologies are we talking about and how do they interrelate?

• When will these technologies occur?

  • What order will the various technologies occur in?

    • Does AI have to precede nanotechnology? Or vice versa?

  • Can we order technology development to minimize dangers?

    • What order of technology development minimizes the dangers?

  • How fast will the technology develop?

    • What are the economic and military drivers for each technology?

    • Will the first assembler constitute a discontinuity or will it fit the curve?

  • Are the economic and military drivers so strong that it will be impossible to relinquish these technologies?

    • What past historical evidence is there on attempts to relinquish technologies?

  • Can the speed be moderated to minimize danger?

    • Which is safer: a soft or hard takeoff?

    • Will rapid, but non-singular technology development destabilize the military?

• What are the implications of these technologies that make them either beneficial or detrimental (in at least one groups eyes)? Can the dangers be mitigated?

  • General

    • Are the perils of our current problems so great as to mandate the use of transformative technologies?

    • What sort of dangers are posed by advanced technologies?

      • What sort of dangers could arise in a military arms race?

      • How could totalitarian governments abuse transtech?

      • How could criminals abuse transtech?

      • How could vandals abuse transtech?

      • What sort of accidents could result from transtech?

    • How (technologically) can the threat of nano, genetic and intelligent weaponry be reduced?

    • How can runaway nano, genetic and intelligent agents be contained/destroyed?

    • How can the threat of runaway nano, genetic and intelligent agents be reduced?

    • Can threat reduction/containment/destruction be achieved without centralized, intrusive "Big Brother" methods?

      • If not, how centralized and intrusive will the methods need to be?

    • Will technologies result in abundance (post-scarcity economy)?

      • Will money still be required in such an economy?

    • Will population growth be a problem?

  • AI/Robotics

    • Can the behavior of AIs be predicted and/or controlled to meet our desires?

    • Is the evolutionary approach to AI safe?

  • Nanotech

    • How can nanotech product designs be verified to be safe?

    • Can we make nanofactories that cannot be cracked or reverse engineered?

  • Anonymity/Encryption/Surveillance

    • Will anonymity be great enough to substantially weaken governments?

    • Will surveillance be strong enough to strengthen governments?

    • Does anonymity make it impossible to restrict proscribed knowledge (e.g., instructions for creating a deadly, hard-to-kill bacteria or virus)?

    • Will anonymity make digital IP unprotectable?

    • What effect would quantum computing have on encryption and anonymity?

Politics

• How will various people/groups react to these technologies?

  • In general, what are the groups, what do they want, and what are they likely to do long term and short term?

  • How will existing world powers react to transtech?

    • How might transtech weaken governments?

      • How might they react to prevent this?

    • How might transtech strengthen governments?

  • How will wealthy and/or powerful individuals react to transtech?

  • How will the general populace react to transtech? (Note that people from different nations, different cultures will have different reactions.)

    • Will the average person be helped or hurt by transtech?

    • How strong is gut-level dislike and suspicion of technology in the general public? Even if transtech provides people with healthier, wealthier lives, will they fight against it?

    • How will people react to cure of old age?

    • How will people react to the possibility and reality of uploading?

    • Will artificial persons begin to supplant real humans in human relationships?

    • What will people do in a post-scarcity economy? Will they function well when they no longer have to work to live?

• To what degree will individuals be able to "opt out" of changes due to transformative technologies? (I.e., will the economics of post-singularity world make it impossible for an individual to live outside of it?)

  • What can be done to make such an option more real?

• What political policy will reduce nano, genetic and AI threats?

  • How (politically) can the threat of nano, genetic and intelligent weaponry be reduced?

  • Should access to some research and/or production tools be limited? And, if so, in what manner should it be restricted?

  • Should reverse engineering disassemblers be allowed?

  • Should assemblers be regulated? I.e., should they be limited to constructing only designs that have been approved by some central authority?

  • Should some knowledge be proscribed (e.g., instructions for creating a deadly, hard-to-kill bacteria or virus)?

• If population growth becomes a problem, then what should be done about it?

Goals

• Personal

  • What makes life worth living?

  • What is worth dying for?

  • What is the foundation of ethics?

  • Should I upload?

  • Should I rearrange my brain to enhance cognition, sensation, emotion?

  • Should I reprogram my basic drives and desires?

  • Should I seek to transcend?

  • Should I join a group mind?

    • If so, at what level of loss of personal sovereignty?

• Social

  • Is there something more important than the preservation of humanity?

    • If we can't go forward without becoming inhuman, should we do so?

  • Should we allow sentient speciation?

    • Should we allow self-interested AIs?

    • Should we allow group minds?

  • What rights should AIs, uploaded humans etc. be granted? What limitations should be imposed on them?

  • Should genetic selection and/or design of children be allowed?

    • What are the dangers of genetically designed humans?

  • Should we take steps to preserve a "right" to "opt out" of changes due to transformative technologies?

  • To what degree should we focus on preserving the environment?

    • To what degree should we focus on returning the environment to a more pristine state?

  • Should people be allowed to upload themselves?

  • To what degree should people be allowed to enhance their cognition, sensation, emotion?

  • To what degree should people be allowed to re-program their own basic drives? To what degree should they be allowed to make fatal choices?

    • Should they be allowed to turn themselves into wireheads?

    • Should they be allowed to turn themselves into lotus-eaters?

    • Should they be allowed to remove their social instincts/inclinations?

• Government

  • Should we strengthen or weaken governments?

  • What sort of economy should we have? (E.g., if a post-scarcity economy is possible, should we move to it?)

  • Should we opensource nanotech designs in order to prevent ownership of what will be the most important means of production?

  • Should information be free?