The argument about differences in scale constituting differences in kind is compelling, and yet I'm not sure how to evaluate any particular instance of this type of argument without just deferring to my existing opinion on the topic at hand.
For example, it's easy to construct hypothetical scenarios where a difference in scale seem to clearly constitute a difference in kind and where suppression of a new technology seems clearly reasonable. An easy hypothetical (but not implausible) example is some new kind of extremely deadly weapon that would be much easier to build than existing weapons if the "recipe" was made public.
But it's also easy to make the same argument for things like, say, the printing press. And indeed there has always been intense opposition from many to the printing press and subsequent technologies that make distributing written language much easier, with opponents often presenting arguments in this same form. Yet it feels wrong to me to apply the argument this way.
Is that just because I have existing opinions that generally oppose restrictions in the ability to distribute ideas, but I don't generally oppose restrictions on very deadly weapons? Or is there some other way to distinguish between valid and invalid instances of this form of argument, perhaps by attempting to estimate the overall risk versus reward?
For example, it's easy to construct hypothetical scenarios where a difference in scale seem to clearly constitute a difference in kind and where suppression of a new technology seems clearly reasonable. An easy hypothetical (but not implausible) example is some new kind of extremely deadly weapon that would be much easier to build than existing weapons if the "recipe" was made public.
But it's also easy to make the same argument for things like, say, the printing press. And indeed there has always been intense opposition from many to the printing press and subsequent technologies that make distributing written language much easier, with opponents often presenting arguments in this same form. Yet it feels wrong to me to apply the argument this way.
Is that just because I have existing opinions that generally oppose restrictions in the ability to distribute ideas, but I don't generally oppose restrictions on very deadly weapons? Or is there some other way to distinguish between valid and invalid instances of this form of argument, perhaps by attempting to estimate the overall risk versus reward?