Re: Get it right the first time (Was: )

From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Sun Sep 17 2000 - 10:19:16 MDT


xgl wrote:
>
> On Sun, 17 Sep 2000, gabriel C wrote:
>
> > or maybe not even that complicated.it could easily transmit itself on any
> > number of frequencies, from elf (extremely low frequency, used by subs)
> > to microwave transmission. some freqs reach around the world, like hf (high
> > frequency) and then it is everywhere...
> > there is simply no way to deal with it once it's here. our job is just
> > getting it here.
> >
>
> well, i get the spirit of the message, but the literal
> implications are really pushing it. after all, the confined seed is not
> _literally_ omnipotent; there will still be things it can not do -- and i
> would guess transmitting elf signals while off web and without a hardware
> transmitter would be one of those things.

One of the things you can't rule out - and I mean this seriously - is
"magic". Magic plain and simple. Running a particular sequence of
instructions through the CPU so that a certain transistor turns on and off in
a certain sequence and modulates the quantum cheat codes of the Universe. Or
something. Dealing with a real superintelligence, it can't be ruled out. It
obviously can't be relied on, but it can't be ruled out.

Trying to oppose or even constrain a superintelligence is a fool's game. Get
It Right The First Time.

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



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