[ExI] Warren Buffett is worried too and thinks Republicans are "asinine"

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of Anders Sandberg
>...Subject: Re: [ExI] Warren Buffett is worried too and thinks Republicans
are "asinine"

On 21/10/2013 10:18, Omar Rahman wrote:
> I put to you list members that: the crazed billionaires backing the 
> Brethren of the Koolaid are in fact far more extropian than us here on 
> this list...

Crazed billionaires, contradiction in terms.  If we are crazed, then we are
just crazed.  But with ownership of sufficient piles of money, it is known
as respectfully as eccentric, as was the case with Bruce Wayne.  Howard
Hughes was extremely eccentric, growing ever more so as he approached the
end of his life.  Had he actually lost all his money, he would have been
demoted to crazy, even if he had managed to regain is clinical sanity.

 >...Sitting on top of their mountains of money they can see 
> further, just as those who stand on the shoulders of giants can see...

(...snif...)  Omar, I am proud of you, me lad.

> ...They can see the wave robotisation that will drive many jobs out of 
> the hands of humans...

The beauty of it all is that we can too, even if we are poor.  The rich have
the advantage of the theoretical ability to make their visions a reality,
and if successful, they get to scale ever-higher mountains of money and get
to see even further.  Our challenge as poor proles is to compensate for our
lack of money with ever sharper vision and ever deeper analytical thought.
If we see further than the wealthy on their lofty perches, we may join them
up there.  With the sharp-eyed foresight we developed down here, we get to
see even further than they do once we are at the same altitude on our own
piles of money.  Our vision will then be enhanced with our own ability to
buy our visions into reality.  Ain't life grand?

>... They are the primary beneficiaries of this...

Well sure.  But I would argue that we poor have benefitted wildly from
certain visionaries, the computer gurus from the 70s, the electronics
visionaries before them, the medical pioneers before them, my heroes, all.
I bless their wealth.

>... It isn't an academic discussion for them it's a business plan. Anders
and 
> others recently posted information about jobs that will/could be soon 
> computerised or robotised; egotistical crazed billionaire was not on 
> any list that I saw...

I can imagine a convincing software simulation an egotistical crazed
billionaire.  If well done, it could be nearly as annoying as the real
thing.  I have met (as far as I know) only one billionaire personally, and
he was a most pleasant and interesting gentleman.  One could meet him at a
party and never know he had stacks of cash.  They don't dress or act like
that banker guy with the top hat in the Monopoly game.

>... Being rich in a capitalist economy is a useful state, since it means
that you can earn a living just by existing and having certain possessions.
In fact, it might be the *only* stable state in sufficiently AI-enriched
economies... Anders Sandberg

Anders, I am really turned on by this kind of talk.  Rich people are our
friends.  Rather, most of them are, or can be.  If they are atheists, they
might decide to pour a pile of money into something like cryonics before
they perish.  Bill Gates is doing a lot of good things with his dough.  My
one billionaire acquaintance is supporting SIAI.  If you look, good chance
most of the Silicon Valley jillionaires are driving good things into
reality.

spike