[extropy-chat] RE: [wta-talk] SIAI seeking seed AI programmer candidates

[Adrian Tymes]

What he said.  From the article:

> Your personal feelings are not a consideration. Is
> this the best thing for Earth?

Perhaps.  Setting humility aside for the moment, most
of my past employers told me I was far and away the
best programmer they had ever worked with.  The ones
who didn't were employing me for non-programming
skills.  I've gotten over $100K salary at previous
jobs, and even with personal feelings towards this
project letting me discount my rate, I'd demand a high
pay rate so I can set aside all material worries
(first and foremost, what happens to me - and my other
financial concerns - if the project goes nowhere
despite my efforts, which possibility has happened
with far too many less venturesome projects to simply
ignore) and do the best job that I can...

> You may not get paid very well.

...but this answer simply does NOT suffice.  I suspect
the same is true for any programmer of my caliber or
higher, which only reinforces things.  (Creating
Friendly AI by myself?  Unlikely, at best.  Creating
Friendly AI with a lot of help of my caliber?  That's
starting to become possible.)

You might be able to recruit top coders by other
means.  Take Linux, for example.  But, as with Linux,
it's usually only possible after people find a way to
make money while still "donating" their efforts (i.e.
for Linux, someone who helped write the kernel is
demonstrably something of an expert, and can get hired
to expert-level jobs at organizations making use of
Linux).  Perhaps if you had enough of a seed AI that
it could be applied to productive uses even while
incomplete?  (Think of it as bootstrapping.)  But
you'll need someone to help you get it that far, and
you need to offer something in the mean time.

Transforming the Earth the right way, even if one dies
in the process, but is at least certain the project
will reach its desired end - that can be managed.
Risking everything when there's a good chance of
nothing?  Sorry, but the same judgement you call for
to guide the project through, tells me there are far
less risky (personally and for all of humanity) paths
to reach the same end of a Friendly AI, and they don't
(presently) involve me dedicating my working hours to
non-payers like you.

--- Giu1i0 Pri5c0 <pgptag at gmail.com> wrote:
> Very interesting Tyler. First, kudos for your
> "Becoming a Seed AI
> Programmer" article which is one of the very best
> job offered texts that I
> have ever seen.
> To business: reading the description of your
> project, and having some
> experience in managing large software development
> proejcts, I found myself
> trying to quantify your human resource needs and
> came up with a core staff
> of 50 software managers, architects, designers,
> coders, testers, plus
> cognitive scientists, mathematicians, hardware and
> communications experts,
> *insert here all current IT buzzwords*, and of
> course you also need support
> staff. As part of the team you need some of the very
> best money can buy,
> people who would command a salary of 250k+/yr in the
> job market. Your total
> budget requirement is, I believe, between 10 and
> 20M/yr, and these may well
> be very conservative estimates. How good are your
> funding projections over
> the next few years? Of course we will try
> contributing individually a few
> tens of bucks every now and then but you know this
> is not enough.
> Yes of course you can use volunteers, but my advice
> is not to underestimate
> the requirement for paid staff. Volunteers can
> contribute very brilliant but
> intrinsically unreliable work (they are available
> today, tomorrow they need
> money find a job and go), you need paid staff for
> reliability.
> Have you thought of intermediate marketable results
> that would look good on
> a business plan?
> G.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wta-talk-bounces at transhumanism.org
> [mailto:wta-talk-bounces at transhumanism.org]On Behalf
> Of Tyler Emerson
> Sent: 01 June 2004 20:10
> To: SL4; SIAIv; Extropy Chat; WTA-Talk; AGI
> Subject: [wta-talk] SIAI seeking seed AI programmer
> candidates
> 
> 
> Although we are not ready to begin our AI project,
> we are close enough to
> begin forming the development team. Presently, we
> have two confirmed team
> members. We're now actively searching for
> Singularitarians with software
> engineering and cognitive science expertise to join
> the development team. If
> you believe you may be a suitable candidate, or know
> someone who may, please
> read "Becoming a Seed AI Programmer," and consider
> getting in touch at
> institute at singinst.org. The Institute is searching
> for nothing less than
> the core team to fulfill our mission; we need the
> very best we can find.
> 
>
http://www.singinst.org/action/seed-ai-programmer.html
> 
> Sincerely,
> ---
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