Re: LIST: Singularitarians

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Thu, 08 Apr 1999 20:50:53 -0500

Lyle Burkhead wrote:
>
> Is the Singularity inevitable? In other words, is it going to happen
> anyway, regardless of what any particular person does or does not do? Or
> is it contingent, i.e. something that may or may not happen?

Absolutely contingent. Eat the planet with grey goo, and no Singularity. But I do think that if the planet isn't destroyed *completely*, every last human being dead, then the Singularity will eventually occur - and likewise, with no Singularity, someone will eventually blow up the planet. There are no realistic stable states except those two.

-- 
        sentience@pobox.com          Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
         http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
          http://pobox.com/~sentience/singul_arity.html
Disclaimer:  Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.