[ExI] dolphins give marital counsel - (was: chatbot convinces man to end it)

[Tara Maya]

I'm doing research on dolphin intelligence right now for Seastead book 2, "The Pink Dolphin." I haven't decided how intelligent to make the dolphins yet. Should I keep them strictly in keeping with what we can actually prove about dolphin intelligence right now (about on par with chimps), or should I let the readers have the much more fun fantasy of a dolphin who can think and communicate (translated) on par with humans?

One thing is clear is that humans WANT dolphins to be as sentient as they, or, better yet, smarter. I read a book by a new age lady who was convinced that the dolphin in the pool of a Florida hotel told her to divorce her husband so as to study the infinite wisdom of dolphinkind and teach humanity to ascend to a higher level of spiritual being.

I'm incredibly skeptical of any claims of human-like or superhuman intelligence about other other species, or AI, just because I know humans want this so badly, and project their own minds onto other so readily.

On the other hand, I do agree that other animals--and now perhaps AI--far exceed us in completely alien kinds of intelligence. They aren't giving divorce advice, or promising to save the ecology in exchange for suicide, but they may have brains/minds that work in ways that are fascinating and complex.

One of the arguments for superior dolphin intelligence is the size of their brains. This includes a huge limbic lobe that no other animal possesses. What on earth is it for? Do dolphins really have complicated emotional lives, entangled relationships within their clans, perhaps driven by sexual selection for the smoothest seducers? (Dolphin dudes have to form social partnerships with other dolphin dudes to seduce one dolphin lady, and sometimes these alliances become even larger). 

It's a fine line between not OVERestimating how intelligent / similar another creature is to us and not UNDERestimating how intelligent yet different from us some minds may be....

Tara Maya


> On Apr 2, 2023, at 7:14 AM, William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> 
> Even if it turns out to be satire, such things are entirely possible in today's world as I know from watching my friend of ten years fall in love with a GPT-based chatbot.  Gordon
> 
> Nothing surprises me about people.  If a person can make a huge decision based on tea leaves, the Tarot, chicken innards, etc., getting a little push from an AI is no surprise at all.
> bill w
> 
> On Sat, Apr 1, 2023 at 6:27 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org <mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>> wrote:
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> From: Gordon Swobe <gordon.swobe at gmail.com <mailto:gordon.swobe at gmail.com>> 
>> Sent: Saturday, 1 April, 2023 3:50 PM
>> To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org <mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>>
>> Cc: spike at rainier66.com <mailto:spike at rainier66.com>; BillK <pharos at gmail.com <mailto:pharos at gmail.com>>
>> Subject: Re: [ExI] chatbot convinces man to end it
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> On Sat, Apr 1, 2023 at 3:22 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org <mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>> wrote:
>> 
>> I recognize the possibility that the story is true, but it is filled with hints that it is satire.  
>> 
>> 
>> Even if it turns out to be satire, such things are entirely possible in today's world as I know from watching my friend of ten years fall in love with a GPT-based chatbot. Normally a kind and gentle soul, he became extremely angry and profane when I tried to convince him that the language model had no genuine feelings of love for him. Had he been forced to decide whether to kill me or to delete his digital girlfriend, probably I would be pushing up daisies by now. 
>> 
>> -gts
>> 
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>> 
>>  
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>>  
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>> Owwww dang sorry to hear Gordon.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Hey that gives me an idea.  I am an extremely angry and profane bastard now.  So I’ll get an AI girlfriend, have you talk me out of it, perhaps I will be transformed into a kind and gentle soul.
>> 
>>  
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>> Does it work that way?
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Does anyone have a link to the 1 April 2000 archives?  ExIMod, do you have that, me life form?
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> spike
>> 
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