[ExI] ai is the easy road

[Keith Henson]

tcuOn Tue, Oct 13, 2026 at 5:10 AM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Keith Henson wrote:
>
> > I am sorry to say, but slaughtering each other is functional and
> rational from the viewpoint of genes ...
>
> Yes, of course, but do we want to remain at the level of beasts that serve
> their genes?
>

That is very tricky. Traits like starting on the path to war when there is
a perceived resource crisis, or capture-bonding is wired into our brains
due to evolutionary selection. Removing these traits, even identifying
where they are in the genome. would be a herculean task. And who knows what
other psychological traits they contribute to.

Better, I think to keep them turned off by environmental cues. Between
falling birth rates and rising wealth, keeping the psychological traits
that lead to wars and related social disruption turned off looks like an
easier way than changing human nature. At least given current technology.

To me, at least, being human implies transcending the biological
> imperatives that have dominated the last couple of billion years. We have
> been doing that for a while. We have decoupled, to a degree, sex from
> reproduction. We are starting to override or take control of, some
> biological processes. We are on the verge of moving medicine from 'let
> nature fix the problem' to 'we will fix it'. This will continue, and
> accelerate. We may be in the last period where biology controls our
> destinies, and entering the period where the viewpoint of genes becomes
> irrelevant to what we are and what we do.
>
> For a long time, we have been creatures 'suspended between beasts and
> angels'. We are, I think, beginning to enter an age where we can progress
> from that state to becoming fully 'angels', and leave the 'beast' behind.
> There's still quite some way to go, of course, but I do think that we are
> now at the earliest stages of being able to make the transition, of being
> able to cast off the legacy of biology. I'll say again what I've said
> before: Biology is like an abusive parent, we wouldn't be here without it,
> but we need to get the hell away from it as soon as possible, if we are to
> survive and thrive.
>
> Evolutionary biology is a useful tool for understanding how we came to be
> what we are. It should not determine what we are to be.
>

I make the case that we need to understand our natures as evolved primates
who have been subjected for a number of traits. It is a really hard meme to
spread. Virtually no humans acknowledge that they have internal drives of
which they are not aware. Even on this group, and me harping on it for
decades, few have much insight to their internals state or what physical
and social forces drive it.

Keith

> ---
> Ben
>
> "The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." - Pablo Casals, via Albert Einstein
>
>
> On Monday, 12 October 2026 at 20:34, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> sOn Mon, Oct 12, 2026 at 1:50 AM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> On 11/10/2026 21:27, spike wrote:
>> >
>> > This study has the uncomfortable ring of truth:
>> >
>> > Using AI for Just 10 Minutes Erodes Your Ability to Persist at Hard
>> Things | Research UC Berkeley
>> >
>> > I am not accusing others. I too have been guilty of just asking Grok
>> rather than thinking it through or calculating it out.
>> >
>> > Another possible future scenario is that AI doesn’t kill everybody, but
>> gradually takes over our thinking by being the wise old uncle who knows
>> everything. It is easier for the kids to just ask him for the answer rather
>> than figure it out the traditional way.
>>
>>
>>
>> It might be arguable that this is not only inevitable, but desirable.
>>
>> Humans never evolved as logical or rational thinkers. That type of
>> thinking is difficult for us, it's not our strong point. Yes, we have used
>> it to create our current collection of civilisations, with varying levels
>> of success, but look at all the problems we still have. We use our logical
>> thinking to create pretty remarkable machines, then use them to slaughter
>> and oppress each other. It might be argued that we should stick to what we
>> do best (intuitive, emotional thinking), and let other kinds of being (AIs)
>> do the kind of thinking they arguably already are or almost certainly will
>> be, better at.
>>
>> It seems inevitable that some type of AI will eventually take over the
>> running of things, and hopefully they will be able to stop us from
>> slaughtering each other.
>
>
> I am sorry to say, but slaughtering each other is functional and rational
> from the viewpoint of genes. Humans long ago escaped our predators becoming
> the top predator. That left us with no other choice when the population
> grew larger than the resources needed to support it but to kill each other.
> We have wired in (genetic, EP) mechanisms to detect and respond at the
> group level to perceived resource shortages. This is complicated by
> technology sometimes increasing the resources faster than the population
> growth and the development of reliable birth control.
>
> Ghod knows how this will play out. The environment is changing faster than
> we can keep up with it.
>
> Keith
>
> This phenomenon of AI making people mentally lazy could be a step on the
>> way.
>>
>> Who knows, once they are in charge, they could even help us to get better
>> at rational thinking, and controlling or even eliminating our
>> self-destructive tendencies.
>>
>> Or they could kill us all, but that seems unlikely to me. There would be
>> no point to it, and it would be destroying something unique, interesting
>> and valuable, which seems the kind of thing that something very powerful,
>> but not very rational might do (which is an argument for developing
>> superintelligent AI as soon as possible).
>> --
>> Ben
>> "The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who
>> watch them without doing anything." - Pablo Casals, via Albert Einstein
>>
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