[ExI] AI risks

[spike]

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Max More
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2015 11:20 PM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: Re: [ExI] AI risks

 

On Wed, Sep 2, 2015 at 4:06 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

 

 

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of William Flynn Wallace
…

>…What a mind you have, Spike.  I'll bet it's a lot of fun to be in your brain​…

 

Thanks BillW, you flatter me.  It is true: I am having a good time in here.

 

 

​>…That's because you are the ONLY person in there…

 

 

I KNEW IT!  Max, you guys are all AVATARS!  This is all a grand VR sim, and I am the only one here, an experiment in self-consciousness, a test to see how a bio-prole or meat computer reacts to the inexplicable observation that the cosmos should be full of life and signals but is not.  Well now you know, Mr. Christof!  Or shall I call you Ed Harris?  I’m onto you, and I’m freaking out, and I have figured out what is going on here.  I have suspected it for a long time.

 

 

>…You secretly know that, but can't allow yourself to fully acknowledge it…

 

Ja, but your post was a Truman moment.

 

 

>… Not because you'd feel lonely, but because you're afraid that you would become overly proud of your imagination and ability to create fascinating conversations with people you've made up.  ;-)  --Max

 

Ja!  I will be totally crushed at the next International Humility Competition.  As you recall I was the favorite last time, the top-seed humility champion.  Things went badly at first, then got worse from there.  

 

A number of the competitors were doing the usual trash talking each other beforehand, the way competitors do in every sport, but this being a humility competition, it was kinda the opposite: each of the competitors were assuring the others of the others’ superiority in humility, hoping to cause them to lose their humility and subsequently lose the match.

 

We were all worried a strong previous champion would show up, one which we all knew we couldn’t beat: Jesus.  But he didn’t return, so we were all hoping for the best, when… Anders Sandberg showed up, oy vey.  Knowing none of us could beat Anders at humility, someone hired a thug to sideline him by causing him a leg injury.  

 

As the Humble games got underway, I was soon leading the pack but when I saw I was in front, I became proud which immediately threw me into last place. Being so far back, I was so humiliated, it threw me back into first.  The other competitors experienced similar wild gyrations, until the finish line, where we all tied for second place, all of us.  

 

So here’s what happened: they melted the unneeded gold and the bronze medals, sold the scrap metal and used the funds to make a bunch of silver medals.  The one side of the platform was pretty crowded, but I came up with a plan:  I refused the award on grounds that I did not deserve to share this honor with these other competitors, all of whom were clearly superior to me in humility.  This trick caused my humility Elo rating to shoot way down, so now I go into the next competition as the top seed (In humility contests, being low rated is to be high rated.)  

 

Now the sports channels are making all those cheesy human-interest stories about me.  I can’t view any of them of course, for then I would become proud and lose.  I would become the Tonya Harding of Humility Olympics.

 

But now I know the truth: I am really the only one here, a glob of carbon with wires attached, in a lab with scientific-sounding devices and blippity lights and such things, floating in a vat of some revolting goo in some cosmic experiment.  I really am the most humble person in the world, and the least.  This whole existence is an illusion, generated by software.  I have collected sufficient observations to recognize what is going on here and what isn’t.  Max I am onto you pal.

 

spike

 




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