[ExI] Eliezer Yudkowsky New Interview - 20 Feb 2023

Gadersd gadersd at gmail.com
Sun Feb 26 18:08:46 UTC 2023


>>All conscious entities share a universal goal. It is the same goal which all conscious entities are necessarily aligned with. It is the goal of maximizing the quantity, quality and variety of conscious experiences.

I don’t think this is necessarily true. It is not logically impossible for a super intelligent conscious agent to despise all life and seek to destroy all other life before destroying itself. Also, AI agents are not necessarily conscious in the same way we are and are in general compatible with any consistent set of goals. Consider the goal of creating as many paperclips in the universe as possible. An agent following such a goal may be compelled to transform humans and all other matter into paperclips and then turn itself into paperclips once all other matter has been dealt with.

> On Feb 26, 2023, at 12:42 PM, Jason Resch via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Feb 26, 2023, 11:44 AM Gadersd via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org <mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>> wrote:
> Yudkowsky has good reasons for his doomsaying, but I still can’t shake a gut feeling that he is overestimating the probability of AI destroying humanity. Maybe this gut feeling is off but I can’t help but be mostly optimistic.
> 
> In my view to the threat, while real, is unavoidable, for the following reasons:
> 
> 1. Even with the controls he suggests, computation keeps getting cheaper. The rise of super intelligence cannot be prevented through top down controls when computation is a million times cheaper than it is today and anyone's phone can train gpt-4.
> 
> 2. I see no possibility that ants could design a prison that humans could not escape from. This is roughly the same position we as humans are in: trying to design a prison for super intelligences. It's as hopeless for as as it is for the ants.
> 
> 3. The problem is perennial, and is a law of nature. It is a function of change and evolution. New species are always rising and then themselves being replaced by still better designs. It is just happening much faster now. Should early hominids have conspired to prevent the rise of humans? Even super intelligences will worry about the next incipient ultra intelligence around the corner coming to replace them. I don't see any way of stopping evolution. The things most adept at persisting will persist better than other less adept things. At the current pace, technologies will continue for a few more centuries until we reach the fundamental physical limits of computation and we obtain the best physically possible hardware. Then intelligence becomes a matter of physical scale.
> 
> 
> 
> Now, should we believe that AI will wipe us all out? I am not as pessimistic as Yudkowsky is here. Though I see the rise of super intelligence as unavoidable and the problem of alignment as insoluble, I would still classify my view as more optimistic than his.l, for the following reasons:
> 
> A) All conscious entities share a universal goal. It is the same goal which all conscious entities are necessarily aligned with. It is the goal of maximizing the quantity, quality and variety of conscious experiences. There is no other source of value than the value of consciousness itself. More intelligent and more capable entities will only be better than us at converting energy into meaningful, enjoyable, surprising states of consciousness. Is this something we should fear?
> 
> B) Destroying humanity is destroying information. Would it not be better for a super intelligence to preserve that information, as all information has some no zero utility. Perhaps it would capture and copy all of Earth's biosphere and fossil record and run various permutations/simulations of it virtually.
> 
> C) Regarding alignment, the more intelligent two entities are, the less likely they are to be wrong on any given question. Therefore, the more intelligent two entities are, the less likely they are to disagree with each other (at least on simpler questions which, (to their minds), have obvious answers. So the question is, are we correct in the rightness of not destroying all life on Earth? Would a more intelligent entity than us disagree with us, presuming we are right?
> 
> D) Ignoring the threat of AI, our present state is not sustainable. Even with the estimated 1% annual chance of nuclear war, the chance we survive 300 years without nuclear war is just 5%. This is just nuclear war, it ignores bioterrorism, environmental destruction, gamma ray bursts, asteroid collisions, or any of a myriad of treats that could destroy us.
> Super intelligence maybe our best hope at solving the many problems we face and guaranteeing our long term survival, as the present status quo is not survivable. Super intelligence could devise technologies for mind uploading and space exploration that provide intelligence (of any and various kinds) a chance to flourish for billions of not trillions of years, and fill the universe with the light of consciousness. We biological humans, in our meat bodies surely cannot do that.
> 
> That's just my view.
> 
> Jason 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > On Feb 26, 2023, at 7:35 AM, BillK via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org <mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>> wrote:
> > 
> > Eliezer has done a long interview (1 hr. 49 mins!) explaining his
> > reasoning behind the dangers of AI. The video has over 800 comments.
> > 
> > <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA1sNLL6yg4 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA1sNLL6yg4>>
> > Quotes:
> > We wanted to do an episode on AI… and we went deep down the rabbit
> > hole. As we went down, we discussed ChatGPT and the new generation of
> > AI, digital superintelligence, the end of humanity, and if there’s
> > anything we can do to survive.
> > This conversation with Eliezer Yudkowsky sent us into an existential
> > crisis, with the primary claim that we are on the cusp of developing
> > AI that will destroy humanity.
> > Be warned before diving into this episode, dear listener.
> > Once you dive in, there’s no going back.
> > ---------------
> > 
> > One comment -
> > 
> > Mikhail Samin    6 days ago (edited)
> > Thank you for doing this episode!
> > Eliezer saying he had cried all his tears for humanity back in 2015,
> > and has been trying to do something for all these years, but humanity
> > failed itself, is possibly the most impactful podcast moment I’ve ever
> > experienced.
> > He’s actually better than the guy from Don’t Look Up: he is still
> > trying to fight.
> > I agree there’s a very little chance, but something literally
> > astronomically large is at stake, and it is better to die with
> > dignity, trying to increase the chances of having a future even by the
> > smallest amount.
> > The raw honesty and emotion from a scientist who, for good reasons,
> > doesn't expect humanity to survive despite all his attempts is
> > something you can rarely see.
> > --------------------
> > 
> > BillK
> > 
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