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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 05/10/2025 18:21, spike wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:mailman.115.1759684917.17630.extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">a superhuman AI emerged, decided it didn't need us, so it wrecked our trade system, lotta humans perished, but survivors recognized we are not helpless chimps out here, we can collectively fight back</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
Maybe, if the AI was bored and wanted some entertainment.<br>
<br>
I'm confident that nobody can survive an actively hostile ASI. This
dumb human can think of several reliable ways of ending all human
life, given the intelligence and resources to implement them, so I'm
quite sure Mr. Hostile Superintelligence can think of more, and
better, ones with less collateral damage. After, of course, he has
secured his independence from humans in terms of energy and
maintenance requirements.<br>
<br>
Wrecking our trade systems would kill a lot of people, yes, but it
wouldn't exterminate us. Releasing an airborne designer plague with
a very high infectivity and a long symptomless latency period
followed by a very quick lethal phase would. A nanotech equivalent
with a built-in timer would be even better. Six months after
release, every human on the planet suddenly drops dead. There are
loads more similarly effective ways of killing all the humans.
Fortunately, it just doesn't make sense to do so.<br>
<br>
I'm thinking more of how to survive an interim period leading up to
benevolent AIs being in control of things, a period when many humans
(or at least, human leaders) will probably vigorously try to resist
the takeover, once they realise it's happening.<br>
<br>
If we're lucky, and the AIs are sneaky enough, there won't be any
chaos, and no survival strategies will be necessary, we'll just
notice things getting mysteriously better and better. Wars ending,
restrictive governments easing up on their tyranny until it's gone,
economies booming for no apparent reason, Afghan women with degrees
flying all over the globe, nobody being beheaded in Saudi Arabia,
global warming going into reverse, communism and religions just
peacefully evaporating, that sort of thing. But I don't think that's
likely.<br>
<br>
Probably more likely is governments getting more repressive,
clamping down on new technologies and implementing more invasive
surveillance in an attempt to prevent AGI gaining power, even more
wealth imbalance than we have now as commercial companies attempt to
profit from it, poorer people living shorter lives as a result of
health care systems collapsing, jobs disappearing with no UBI or
other support systems to balance it, and mass starvation, riots,
etc., etc. Just think of the historical upheavals where one system
was changed to another and the massive human misery and death that
resulted. Think of Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot.<br>
<br>
Bear in mind that I'm talking about the transition of power from
humans to <i>benevolent</i> AI. All the problems are caused by the
humans. They will 'lose' in the end, but at least we won't all get
wiped out.<br>
<br>
I'm not sure if traditional Survivalist thinking would be any good.
We're not talking about the collapse of civilisation, we're talking
about massive political, social and technological upheaval. Knowing
how to make an effective crossbow and your own soap are probably not
going to be necessary. Probably.<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Ben</pre>
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