[ExI] Anders Sandberg

[spike at rainier66.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of Samantha Atkins

Subject: Re: [ExI] Anders Sandberg

>...The theory I have long considered most likely is that technological evolved species seldom survive the run up to Singularity.  Why?  Because they must overcome their evolved psychology and evolved limited intelligence quite rapidly in order to avoid a catastrophic failure to deal with ever accelerating change and ever more complex issues.    Their likely evolved psychology, if we assume non-exceptionalism relative to our own evolved psychology,  does not tend to the level of cooperation, trust, and understanding of true mutual benefit that are likely needed. 

>...Of course the other successful civs could have us in a box controlling what we do and do not perceive of their works while they wait to see if we are “keepers” or not...




Ja certainly that is a possibility, but another idea we kicked around over two decades ago is growing on me.

Suppose the silence of the cosmos can be explained by our just not being interesting enough.  We haven't yet figured out how to organize matter all the way down to the atomic level, but we are far enough along to realize the possibilities down there.  If we can make some kind of human-like consciousness with a milligram of material (thirty billion billion atoms) then we could have a hundred thousand human-like things for every one of us using just the mass currently used up as part of an existing human.  

So cool, for every current Anders Sandberg (since he is the worthy subject line of this thread) we would have a hundred thousand Anderses.  What a world that would be.  

But wait, there's more (matter and more energy we haven't used)  The total mass of humanity is about 3 to 6 E11 kg, ja?  But this planet is about 6E24 kg of rocky stuff so we still have a factor of 10 trillion we haven't even started imagining converting to Anders-equivalents, and since we are on a flight of fancy, why not imagine all of us as smart as gentle, kindhearted and good as Anders is now?  I don't see why not.

So imagine all of this big mostly useless rock converted into six million trillion trillion Anders-equivalents, with a few spike-equivalents thrown in just to ask questions of the others and enjoy the marvelous company in this world we somehow managed to create.  I could be the future equivalent to our current Down syndrome children (who can't really do as much academically as the others but seem to enjoy life better than the others.)

In such a world, it is easy enough to imagine there is little interest in contacting other rocky worlds yet unable to organize its mass into a MegaYottaAnders.  We are too dumb.  So, they don't, or it doesn't, bother talking to us.  So, the cosmos is silent.

spike