[ExI] Ethics and Emotions are not axioms (Was Re: Unfriendly AI is a mistaken idea.)

[John Grigg]

At 04:35 PM 6/4/2007 +1000, Stathis wrote:

>They might look forward to having their heads eaten, write poetry 
>about it, make it the central tenet of their ethical sytem,

  Damien replied:
Nicely put!
  >
   
   
  I remember a science fantasy from a decade or two ago about a race of pony-sized intelligent spiders where a male who is in his prime is expected to marry, mate and then be eaten all in one night.  The "mount" of the knightly human hero was a male who decided he would skip the sex and death part but his poor "humiliated" mate and her sisters were for years on the hunt for him after the terrible "disrespect" he showed to their culture and religion.  The running joke was that this giant ferocious looking arachnid was scared of his own shadow because he saw his mate lurking around every corner.  
   
  "Brother Termite" by Patricia Anthony is a terrific book showing an alien race who have a horrible reproductive imperative which they embrace as beautiful and "the way things must always be done."  The book was optioned by Hollywood but supposedly is in the limbo known as "development hell."
   
  John Grigg 

Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:
  At 04:35 PM 6/4/2007 +1000, Stathis wrote:

>They might look forward to having their heads eaten, write poetry 
>about it, make it the central tenet of their ethical sytem,

Nicely put!

>and regard individuals who don't want to go through with it in much 
>the same way as we regard people who are depressed and suicidal.

Rather, and poignantly/absurdly, in much the way most people regard 
those who *don't want inevitably to age and die "when it's their 
time"* and wish to find scientific means to avoid doing so. "You 
blasphemous fools, just knuckle down and *get your heads eaten* as 
the Great Mantis Mother demands! Go on, you'll find it very rewarding!"

Damien Broderick


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