[ExI] From Friendly AI to Loving AI

Kelly Anderson kellycoinguy at gmail.com
Fri May 20 07:08:23 UTC 2011


On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 12:09 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>
>>... On Behalf Of Kelly Anderson
> Subject: Re: [ExI] From Friendly AI to Loving AI
>
> On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 8:23 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>> ... On Behalf Of Kelly Anderson
>> ...
>>>> 2011/5/6 spike<spike66 at att.net>:
>> ...
>>
>>> Kelly do take care with attributions.  I didn't write any of that which
> as under my name.  No harm done in this case.  {8-]
>
>>...Sorry, I try to be careful, did you not ask how a religious person would
> make a case against sex with a sexbot? If it wasn't you, who asked that
> question?
>
> No problem, as I said, no harm done.  I confess I did start the goofy
> thread, with some grain of honest inquiry, I just didn't write the later
> stuff, having been caught up for the last several days in reality.  In West
> World, the participants were in fact paying a ton of money to copulate with
> sexbots, so Hollyweird was thinking of this kind of thing 40 years ago.

I didn't mean to attribute that to you, if I did, I'm sorry.

> I do wonder occasionally if I am doing the right thing.  I have been looking
> for a job in the very straight and narrow 9 to 5 world in a wildly
> competitive market.  Occasionally I wonder if hiring managers google on my
> email @, and find... you guys.  Oooookaaaaaay into the round file with this
> "Spike" character, oy.  {8^D  But hell, if they are that uptight, I didn't
> want to work there anyways.  {8-]

I can't imagine you in the 9 to 5 world. :-)  I can't imagine you
WANTING to be there, in any case. Join me in the crazy entrepreneurial
world where crazy people like us are what's needed!

>>>...Religions view themselves as a path to self control...
>>
>> Ja, although where I was going with this to start with is I know of a
> class of religions which hold the notion of sola scriptura...

Yeah, that wasn't part of your original question, or if it was I
didn't get that part of the question.

>>...I see. I have never been a sola scriptura type...
>
> I was at one time, but it leads eventually to atheism, or did in my case.
> There are certainly contradictions which cannot be explained or reasoned
> away.  But for the strict sola scripturist who really studies the document,
> it is astonishing how much cultural religion is nowhere to be found anywhere
> in those pages.  We are so culturally conditioned, we constantly overlook
> what really isn't there.

The culture of Mormonism is well recognized, even inside the religion,
as being separate from the "gospel" preached through the official
channels. Green jello and funeral potatoes are clearly part of the
culture, and clearly not part of the official teachings. The strange
dichotomies about coca-cola, or belief in evolution are cultural
issues that are divisive within the culture because the gospel is
silent on these issues. Because of the strict hierarchical nature of
the leadership of the church, pretty much anything COULD be resolved,
but often is not resolved. The believer would say "God doesn't want us
to know yet." The cynic might say, "A revelation on either side of
that issue would cause some people to leave the church."

The structure of Mormonism is quite distant from sola sciptura because
the living mouth of God lives on earth currently, and there is the
opportunity to solve every question immediately, even though often
such questions are simply left open as "unimportant to our salvation."

>>...I can't get into the sola scriptura mind set. It is too foreign to me...
>
> Ja.  The SDA is vitally dependent on the notion, otherwise the rest of
> Christianity threatens to be non-heretical.  They go to church on Sunday you
> see, and the bible doesn't say anywhere that they are supposed to do that.
> Heretics!  All!  {8^D  Sheesh, I can't believe I ever bought into the
> silliness, even in my childhood.

According to Dawkins you believed because your genetic makeup is
tweaked to believe what your parents said. It makes a lot of sense
when you think of the selection pressure against kids that eat
poisonous plants that their parents told them not to try. So don't
blame yourself... :-)   It's all those darn old selfish genes.

>>...Another example is "forgive and forget" which is not scriptural, but may
> in fact be a pretty good idea...
>
> Better is forgive and remember.  Then if he does it again you know to pop
> the bastard.

There is a certain logic to turning the other cheek, at least on the
large scale. War is very costly economically.

>>...In thinking about the idea of power and responsibility, I can't help but
> think of the recent news involving Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique
> Strauss Khan...
>
> Hoooold on there Hoss, don't even mention those two in the same sentence.
> Both bad guys, OK, but a different order of magnitude.  Aaaahnold provided
> money for his mistress and son I understand, and she has never said she was
> raped as far as I know.  The IMF guy is in no way comparable.

If he (IMF) did what they say, then yes. With people that powerful, I
see reasons for people to lie all over thee place, so I try to
withhold immediate judgement. They made very different levels of
mistake.

> Actually I do see an ethical contradiction.  If a really rich guy fathers a
> child and arranges for the baby and mother a comfortable living at his
> expense, that is far preferable to the poor guy who does the same but cannot
> afford to support his family.  Hmmm.

So it's easier for the rich to be ethical? That turns the typical
thinking on it's head, doesn't it? :-)

>>...As an atheist, I am somewhat ho hum about extramarital sex being a
> terrifically huge deal, but the addition of the son, his treatment and the
> coverup to continue his political career, it is hard to paint Arnold with a
> completely white hat here...
>
> Ja.
>
>>...With DSK, it is still a bit early to even say what happened, but men of
> power have done stupid things before...
>
> He claims she wanted it.  Ja.  Sure.  She was overcome by lust for this
> flabbly geezer I can assure you.  Not.  He's toast.  Wait till it comes out
> that she is Muslim and it starts riots all over France.

However this plays out, I can almost guarantee it will be perceived
differently in America and in France...

What I'm really interested in is the transhumanist angle of it... if
we have powerful AGIs in the future, and they screw up, which they
will, then what is to be done about it? How will it be perceived? I
think it's a fascinating question to ponder.

-Kelly




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