[ExI] Old stuff on this list

[Kelly Anderson]

On Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 3:26 PM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 10:07 PM, Kelly Anderson  wrote:
>> I agree with the rest of your post, but why would you think we would
>> not choose to live in the deep ocean if we're in virtual reality
>> anyway? Seems like a pretty safe place to hide out, little radiation,
>> pretty stable heat and pressure, and what is the pressure going to
>> hurt? You could even power yourself off a geothermal vent and get off
>> of solar altogether.
>>
>> Loved the rest, but this left me scratching my head wondering why you
>> would say this particular thing. After all, we talk about going into
>> outer space all the time...
>
> That's the point. I can't see AIs shutting themselves away from the
> rest of the universe.
>
> Admittedly. the outside universe will appear nearly frozen due to
> their mental speedup, but going to the bottom of the sea????
> I just assumed they would want to see what was going on outside. Just
> in case the sun went nova, or something.

Bill,

  I think you are forgetting one basic rule of life here. Life will
adapt to fill every ecological niche available. So yes, it will go
into outer space, but some will undoubtedly go under the ocean too.  I
don't see it as an either or kind of choice... and getting the massive
amount of material into space when there is plenty of material already
here seems like it might be the second problem solved.

  I see something kind of symmetrical about going back into the
oceans... it's where we came from in the first place... seems cozy and
familiar somehow. As for the sun going supernova, there's a lot of
time to figure that one out, and I'm betting they'll move the
planet... one piece at a time if necessary... unless it turns out that
the earth is just not that interesting in the grand scheme of things.

-Kelly