[extropy-chat] Survival

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 4/13/07, The Avantguardian <avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:

But what would be its motive? A 12,000 IQ being should
> be more rational than us and not less so. Perhaps even
> super-rational in the iterated prisoners' dilemma
> sense. So what would it possibly gain by turning it's
> parents/creators into plasma or goo?


I agree that the super-intelligent being will not automatically be motivated
to destroy us, but I dispute that this has anything to do with being
rational. Reason is a means used to achieve goals, but in the final analysis
the goals themselves are neither rational nor irrational; they just are. All
else being equal, a more intelligent person might be better able to enforce
kindness or cruelty than a less intelligent one, but intelligence is no
indicator as to whether the person will be kind or cruel. Moreover, the
likelihood that reason will be used in making decisions does not necessarily
have anything to do with level of intelligence. People sometimes do
reckless, irresponsible or (to use the word in its popular, but strictly
incorrect sense) irrational things while being fully cognisant of the
consequences.

Stathis Papaioannou
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