Some notes on Practical Ethics inspired by Jonathan D. Moreno’s excellent recent talk.

My basic argument is that enhancing the capabilities of military forces (or any other form of state power) is risky if the probability that they can be misused (or the amount of expected/maximal damage in such cases) does not decrease more strongly. This would likely correspond to some form of moral enhancement, but even the morally enhanced army may act in a bad manner because the values guiding it or the state commanding it are bad: moral enhancement as we normally think about it is all about coordination, the ability to act according to given values and to reflect on these values. But since moral enhancement itself is agnostic about the right values those values will be provided by the state or society. So we need to ensure that states/societies have good values, and that they are able to make their forces implement them. A malicious or stupid head commanding a genius army is truly dangerous. As is tails wagging dogs, or keeping the head unaware (in the name of national security) of what is going on.

In other news: an eclipse in a teacup: