[ExI] To be or not to be, that is the question

[Stefan Pernar]

"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer; The slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by
opposing end them? To die: to sleep"
(from Hamlet 3/1 <http://www.artofeurope.com/shakespeare/sha8.htm>)

Now I'm no literary critic<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Reich-Ranicki>.
I could not help to be reminded however of this most famous snippet of
Shakespearean writing when working on putting together a set of axiomatic
beliefs <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom> on which the core belief
of my friendly
AI theory<http://www.jame5.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/benevolence-pernar-v11.pdf>is
founded on: that is good what increases fitness.

Inspired by a comment<http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=350509&cid=21247745>on
famous geek site
Slashdot.org <http://shlashdot.org/> I sat down to do the following:

   - write down a strongly held belief => "That is good what increases
   fitness."
   - write down the set of "sub-beliefs" that I have which form the basis
   of my belief
   - iterate above steps, applying the same process to each belief listed


The result was very interesting. Soon I realized that the listed beliefs
started to contradict each other so I had to think deeper and rewrite some
of them. That lead to new insights and resulted in a set of 40
beliefs<http://www.jame5.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/beliefiteration1.txt>.
Some of them are trivial and some of them are interesting. Most axiomatic
however is the following belief:

1.2.3.2 To exist is preferable over not to exist

To be, or not to be, that is the question. Is that not the metaphorical
question implicitly posed by reality on every living thing: 'Can you exist?'

Over the course of evolution this question was first asked and answered
passively on the chemical level and later actively 'pondered' on the cognitive
level <http://www.jame5.com/?p=23> to avoid reality taking its toll. With
the realization that what is good is what increases fitness one can start to
actively as well as consciously look into developing strategies for ensured
continued existence.

Averting the rise of a non-friendly AI then becomes but one of many existential
risks <http://www.google.com/search?q=existential+risks>.
from: http://jame5.com

-- 
Stefan Pernar
3-E-101 Silver Maple Garden
#6 Cai Hong Road, Da Shan Zi
Chao Yang District
100015 Beijing
P.R. CHINA
Mobil: +86 1391 009 1931
Skype: Stefan.Pernar
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