Re: Trans- vs. Non-human

Jacob Costello (abbot@alecto.physics.uiuc.edu)
Sun, 8 Dec 1996 19:05:59 -0600 (CST)


>
> > So they'll die. And leave their children behind them. Who will do the
> > same.
> Whether >Hs are going to let the Hs remain Hs is debatable. They might
> regard us as children to be upgraded whether we say Yea or Nay. How can
> anyone intelligently decide NOT to be intelligent? They might,
> nonetheless, respect our free will.
>
> But, speaking personally, I damn well wouldn't let those people impose
> one second of mortal existence on innocent children.
> --
> sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
> http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/singularity.html
> http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
> Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
> everything I know.
>

First, this is awful memetic engineering. When it comes time that people
actually believe this sort of thing could happen, attitudes like this could
provoke violent responses.

Secondly,

It's also quite possible >Hs (i'll try and use your notation) could come
"to blows" over the question. A human might decide to transcend solely to
defend the other humans. Super intelligence need not necessarily come with
correspond with sophistication of values. Our human experience shows us that.
So ... There'll be more than one path to transcendance, after a while at
least. Why not a path that leaves certain values inerasably etched on the
newborn power. Values like the safety and comfort of the remaining Hs. A
local god.

jake costello