Spike Jones wrote:
>
> Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
>
> > I, incidentally, am a fanatic Singularitarian. I want something smarter and
> > more powerful and more ethical than I am to exist; I don't care how, or what
> > happens to the human race or myself afterwards...
>
> reasoning: in times past,
> when tribal warfare was pretty much constant, those groups of humans
> that imagined an afterlife and some being greater than themselves would have
> an easier time forming a hierarchy for battle, and would therefore be a
> more formidable military force than groups of atheistic individualists, thus
> deriving the advantage of differential reproduction.
Group selection is out of fashion. Consider the differential within the group. Fanatic believers in the current fashion would pick up more mates and more status. Sassing the witch doctor gets you killed. Ergo, the will to believe.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
http://pobox.com/~sentience/sing_analysis.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.