Too poor for the Singularity club? April 14, 2010
Posted by Summerspeaker in The Singularity, Transhumanism.trackback
A comment over on Michael’s blog took me to task for lacking the financial resources to donate to SIAI. This neatly reflects the dominance of middle- and upper-class people and values within the transhumanist movement. Some of them don’t want the rest of us to participate. It’s vitally important that we do anyway.
Queering the Singularity 
You should understand that small donations matter. Relative to the rest of the world, we are all wealthy. The principle of the matter means more than the total amount given.
Yes, it is no surprise that transhumanists are mostly middle or upper class.
Yes, I’ll donate something to SIAI sooner or later. In my comment on your blog I was thinking of a more significant contribution. If the driver who hit me while I was biking a few months ago had insurance, then I would get a bit of material to work with. As it stands I’m lucky to have a health plan that will (I hope) cover most of the medical bills.
Though I disagree with you and other SIAI folks on a whole host of issues, I’m glad somebody is focusing on friendly AI. As you say, the tremendous risks and benefits involved grant importance to any effort on the matter.