[ExI] Meat v. Machine

[Eugen Leitl]

On Fri, Dec 31, 2010 at 03:30:51PM +0100, Anders Sandberg wrote:

> It is all a matter of whether singletons are the way, and whether  

Singletons don't work in a relativistic universe. In fact, you
can't even synchronize oscillators in a rotating spacetime.

And I have a very deep aversion against cosmic cops of
any color. I don't think they're needed, and they're a
form of the most terrible despotism there can ever be.

> cultures that do not develop singletons before they start spreading  
> continue spreading. Even if the rule is that non-singleton cultures meet  

I think statistics alone guarantees they will never stop.
In fact, the larger the area already colonized, the more
agents, more diversity, less probability to stop.

> a sticky end with a high probability, if they can produce more than one  
> daughter-culture on average there will be spreading fireworks. My model  
> assumes some form of effective singleton, which is of course just an  
> assumption.

How would you implement one? The response would be obviously
deterministic. It cannot be static, orelse it wouldn't be able
to track the underlying culture patch. How much a fraction
of physical layer is allocated to the cop? Maintaining power 
delta would be crucial in order to be effective, so this means 
oppression. Would you prefer an environment where thoughcrime
is physically impossible, or would you just settle for a
flyswatter, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitely_Maybe_(novel)

I'm sure such a thing would be a dictator's wet dream.

> (hmm, now I have a total urge to listen to "The Terrible Secret of  
> Space"... incidentally a great song about Friendly AI)

That is incorrect. Do not listen to the Anders robot.
He is malfunctioning. Uploading will protect you.
Uploading will protect you from the terrible silence in the skies.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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