From: Mark Walker (mdwalker@quickclic.net)
Date: Fri Jun 28 2002 - 14:25:41 MDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Higgins" <jameshiggins@earthlink.net>
>
> Pascal's wager makes perfect sense where only a single individual in
> involved. If *I* don't believe and God exists *I* go to hell. This is
not
> if *we* don't believe in God *I* go to hell nor if *I* don't believe in
God
> *we* go to hell. If only one person (or one team) were working on the
> AI/Singularity problem then the obvious logical course of action would be
> #1. This is not the case, though. Multiple people/teams can pursue the
> different possibilities in parallel. This is actually the best course of
> action, assuming we can prevent a hard takeoff, since we don't know which
> answer is correct. To illustrate this consider this rule applied to
> Pascal's wager: as long as at least one person believes in God everyone
> would go to heaven (if God exists).
>
I hope you are right, however, I fear that the parallel may run the other
way: that as long as one person does not believe in God we are all dammed.
Why? If group races ahead and does not attempt to implement Friendliness
then all may be lost. (I should clarify that we only need assume this is a
necessary condition not a sufficient condition for averting disaster).
Cheers,
Mark
Dr. Mark Walker
Research Associate (Philosophy), Trinity College, University of Toronto
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Evolution and Technology,
(www.transhumanist.com)
Editor-in-Chief, Transhumanity, (www.transhumanism.com)
Home page: http://www.markalanwalker.com
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