[extropy-chat] SIAI: Donate Today and Tomorrow

[Eliezer Yudkowsky]

Hal Finney wrote:
> I don't see why you can't tell people your AI will give special favors to
> those who donate.  How far do you think the Christians would have gotten
> if they'd said that God would put *everyone* into heaven, whether they
> were Christian or not?  Nowhere.  Even if that were God's actual plan
> (it sounds like a mighty Christian thing to do), they wouldn't tell
> people that.  Otherwise nobody would have any incentive to behave,
> plus the religion wouldn't have been successful.
> 
> So with the Friendly AI, why wouldn't it reward the people who made it
> possible?  Repaying debts seems like a Friendly thing to do.  And if it
> owed its existence to people who made contributions on the expectation
> that they would get a reward, a decent person would indeed reward them.
> We should be able to ask the same of the Friendly AI.
> 
> The monument sounds nice, at least if it's got a lot of gold and diamonds
> and stuff, and if it's really big.  I'm not dissing the monument, it's
> better than nothing.  But come on, this AI could do a little better
> than a monument, don't you think?  After all, the thing is supposed
> to be more or less omnipotent, right?  It wouldn't seem like any great
> difficulty to throw a few bones to the people who made it possible, saved
> the human race and ensured the future happiness of the entire universe.
> I'm not saying it has to make anyone else suffer or anything, but some
> extra reward to the Chosen Few would seem possible and appropriate.

"Donate within the next month and get a free catboy or catgirl after the 
Singularity."  Bet that'd get us Slashdotted.

The problem is, Hal, I really don't feel myself authorized to make those 
kind of promises.  What if a harem of catgirls isn't good for you?  Maybe 
sex with NPCs(*) tends to cause withdrawal from human society.  And there 
are other reasons to beware of a rewarded Chosen Few.  This is something I 
considered a very long time ago, and flinched back from then, and I still 
flinch back now.  Maybe that will change, but I do not foresee it changing. 
   I've suggested the possibility of everlasting fame; that is daring 
enough without bringing in catgirls.

(*) Non-Player Characters

> Anyway, I did make a small donation, even though I found your essay a
> little condescending and insulting.

I'm sorry.  No better writer than I has yet leaped into that unfilled role 
on the stage - Michael Anissimov might grow into it but he's not there yet. 
  So I do the best I can, even though I'm not suited to it.

> But I think you should seriously
> consider the possibility that the AI would be willing to reward
> contributors. I don't see anything in Friendliness that would rule
> it out.  You can bet the Raellians wouldn't get anywhere if they said
> that *everybody* would get to go on the UFO.  As you note, a little
> personal reward can go a long way.

Thanks for pointing out the possibility to everyone, but I still don't dare 
make such promises in my own right.  Too many of the wishes that I've heard 
are dangerous things, e.g., Spike Jones wishing to vacation as a female. 
It might not be helping, to promise to grant them.  But, sure, all SIAI 
donors could end up +5 on their saving throws, it's a legitimate possibility.

-- 
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky                          http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence