Re: [sl4] Re: More silly but friendly ideas

From: Charles Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Thu Jul 03 2008 - 12:49:53 MDT


On Thursday 03 July 2008 12:27:32 am Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
> 2008/7/2 Charles Hixson <charleshixsn@earthlink.net>:
> > To say "slave AI" is to select one particular subset of the possible
> > "friendly AIs" and claim "That's the real set!". Those can exist (and I,
> > personally, feel that they are not only immoral, but dangerous to
> > create), but that's hardly the full range. (I'd actually prefer to
> > exclude most "slave AI"s from the category of "friendly", as I don't
> > think that most of them would be. Frustration, at least among mammals,
> > tends to minimize friendly interactions.
>
> I guess you read "slave" as meaning an AI that is somehow forced to
> serve us even though it would rather not. Do you still think it would
> be immoral if the AI were designed so that it wanted to serve us?

Not immoral, just misuse of the language. (Not a strong misuse, as "slave the
drive to the controler" is standard usage. But slave seems to imply that the
device wasn't changed to make controlling easier.) The problem I have with
that usage is that when the term "slave" is applied to a self-aware entity it
seems to mean that it must obey whether it will or no. The useage you seem
to suggest in "slave AI" being read as if it were a relay or a disk drive
would appear to denigrate the individuality of the AI, which would definitely
be unwise if it had ANY sense of self-preservation (and arguments from many
directions imply that it would...whether built-in or derived). If what you
mean is just what I'm calling "misuse of the language", then the main problem
is how it would shape *your* thoughts, and thus your actions. In that case I
don't consider the usage immoral, only stupid. (Note that these "results"
can't be seen physically in the absence of an AI...but it still shapes how
you think about it.)



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