Re: Goo prophylaxis

Carl Feynman (carlf@atg.com)
Fri, 29 Aug 1997 23:57:26 -0400


At 02:29 PM 8/29/97 +0000, Nicholas Bostrom wrote:
>... That
>depends on what the values are. But whatever they are, we can be
>pretty sure they are more likely to be made real by a
>superinelligence who holds those values than by one who doesn't.
>... The superintelligence
>realizes this and decides to junk the other computers in the
>universe, if it can, since they are in the way when optimising the
>SI's values.

Throughout the 'goo prophylaxis' thread, you seem to completely ignore the
possibility that trade may be more profitable than conquest, that employment
may be more profitable than enslavement, and that symbiosis may be more
profitable than extermination. I don't see why the principle of comparative
advantage should not continue to apply even in a world with vast disparities
in material power between different actors.

This point does not, of course, imply that all or even most of the human
race will make it into the Diamond Age, but I think that it at least allows
the possibility of a more diverse and comitous world than you believe possible.

--CarlF

PS. What a great thread!