[extropy-chat] Superintelligence

[Samantha Atkins]

On Feb 15, 2006, at 11:02 AM, Mikhail John wrote:
> I didn't say that humanity was worthless, I said that humanity is  
> flawed.
> You can sit on a cracked chair and that's better than sitting on  
> the dirt
> floor, but that crack in the leg might shatter at any time. We've been
> sitting on that chair with that crack for a long time, but that  
> doesn't mean
> that there is no reason to repair the crack.
>

Yep.  Of course it is inescapable that any and all actually existing  
beings will be "flawed" to some degree.   Only the terminally  
religious get to dream of absolute perfection.

> Philisophical arguments aside, a superintelligent being might  
> decide that
> the paranoid monkeys are going to try and nuke it.  Maybe the  
> stupid little
> fleshlings are going to try and build an anti-matter bomb, then  
> trip over it
> and set it off. If they are stupid enough to destroy their own  
> atmosphere,
> then they are stupid enough for anything. Rather than risk it, the  
> AI might
> just decide to destroy the humans before that happens.

That is certainly possible.

>
>>
>>> These, however, are flaws of society, not biology. The culture of
>>> the most
>>> powerful portion of the world believe that the world was made for
>>> humans by
>>> God and will last forever, no matter what we do to it.
>>
>> What the heck is a "culture" and where does it say that whatever it
>> is believes any such thing?
>
> The culture is what people think, believe, and do. The Human OS.  
> Some people
> use OpenBuddha, others KoranWord, but America, the most influential  
> and
> powerful nation is the word, runs on PraiseJesus ME, the PraiseJesus
> mercantile edition.
>

The entire country?  The majority?  I think not or at least I hope  
not.  Even among Christian fundamentalists it is not standard to  
believe that the wold will last forever.


> Google says that Acts 25 of the old testament of the bible includes  
> the line
> "He sustains the universe in its existence, giving life and breath  
> to all
> things, and hence, as the source whence they all proceed, must  
> Himself lack
> nothing nor stand in need of any human service;"
>

That is about God rather than about earth though.

>>
>> What, I can't make autonomous, self-reproducing androids that are
>> less bothersome than human beings?   Not much of an AI am I?
>
> Eh, why bother? It'd probably be kind of hard.

Maybe not harder and with a more tractable and capable result than  
modding humans.

>>
>> It is not inevitable simply because the continued existence of a
>> sufficiently technologically advanced humanity is not inevitable.  It
>> is not time to "sit back".
>
> Eh, sit back, work for it... Somebody is going to work for it. I  
> don't mind
> working for it. I probably will work for it. I could NOT work for  
> it, and I
> don't think it'd matter much. There are many people much, much  
> smarter and
> more driven than me, and some of them are trying to do this. I  
> believe it
> will happen. I might be wrong.
>

Guesswork about how smart or capable I am or am not seems like self- 
indulgent BS and an excuse.   I can decide what I want to see in the  
world and do what I can to bring it about coherent with all my  
values.  I accomplish however much I accomplish with less wasted  
energy or self-defeat.  There isn't enough time to second guess how  
big or small my own contribution will or could be compared to that of  
known or hypothetical others.  I have no right at all to assume  
someone else will do more than enough to justify my slacking off.

- samantha