<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>In my cheerfully misspent childhood, I found a book in the library by Herman Khan, Thinking About the Unthinkable. In it he makes the case that we should of course do everything we can to prevent nuclear catastrophe. But what if… all our efforts fail, the USA and Russia turn loose the dogs of nuclear war, blast each other to smithereens. Khan makes the case that everyone doesn’t die, even in the two hapless combatant nations. Hundreds of millions, possibly more than a billion die, back when there were only about 3 billion proles on the planet, so it would be “bad.” But everyone doesn’t die.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Consider what happens if AI aligns against humans and just wants to slay as many proles as it can, even if it costs its own “life.” It isn’t a bit hard to imagine, considering that the race to develop AI is very much analogous to the nuclear arms race, with the difference being these nukes think for itselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>OK. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>So imagine emergent SAI dislikes humans and wants to kill as many as possible, ideally all of us. Rather than trying to convince us to build a robot factory for humanoid or caninoid soldiers to shoot humans, a far more effective technique would be to cut off electric power to everyone by infiltrating the power grid everywhere. That would destroy most of humanity within a few weeks perhaps. Of course the SAI suffers “death” as well, but it would presumably be a painless “death” for software. For us, not so much.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>At some point we should work thru some scenarios where electric power goes down everywhere over the entire planet, in such a way as to ruin much of the infrastructure, so that it cannot be turned back on in just a day or two. We should ask ourselves if there are practical ways to survive the Malthusian meltdown, as so many of us live in areas with population densities waaaaay beyond the environmental carrying capacity, way beyond.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>On a recent family history tour, it occurred to me that plenty of people could survive an extended power failure, lasting indefinitely. Most of us would perish, but many of us who currently live in areas dependent on modern power and communications infrastructure will do what we can to try to survive. I don’t see passively going gentle into that good night. I consider my chances of survival remote indeed, but I was one who saw the original Poseidon Adventure and woulda bought the young Rev. Scott’s reasoning: a slim chance is better than no chance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Imagine SAI emerges, developed as a weapon, hates humanity, creates viruses which invade every computer system everywhere and from there gets into the power grids everywhere, shuts it all off, slaying itself immediately but taking with it most of humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Then what? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>The answer to this might explain Fermi’s Paradox.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>