[ExI] Hard Takeoff-money

[Keith Henson]

On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 9:41 PM,  Michael Anissimov
<michaelanissimov at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks Keith, this is definitely relevant to my argument.  And if this sort
> of thing is possible today, imagine how much more empowering it could be in
> a future where computers, robotics, manufacturing, and other critical
> infrastructure are even more closely intertwined.

True.  One of my more freaky realizations in the last year is that
certain classes of finance are beyond human abilities.  In reading up
on the big drop in the stock market early this year, it became clear
that unaided humans are not in the running for the kind of "finance"
that certain computer programs do.

Currently the people who write the descriptions of how computers
should make money in the market using short time (ms) trades have been
bitching that they are not getting enough of the money these things
make.

Well, the obvious course of events is that someone programs one of
these to run the whole thing, including bank deposits and gives one of
them a small stake to work with then cuts it loose with instructions
to spawn new versions and accounts.

So if you later wonder how the AIs cornered the world's capital, I
mentioned it first.  :-)

Keith