SI: Unimaginative extrapolations

Eliezer Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Sat, 28 Dec 1996 18:35:36 -0600


(SI = Singularity or superintelligence or superstitiousidiocy)

> That such warning fiction exists illustrates that such fears are
> present. As stated prviously, even with my 160 IQ, a goodly portion of
> humanity ticks me off on a daily basis. I could not imagine the amount
> of patience a 1600 IQ AI, or IA upload, would have to practice on a
> daily basis to keep from starting Armageddon just to end the annoyance.

Another classic case of Hawes Syndrome.

"Heaven is a city 15,000 miles square or 6000 miles around. One side is
245 miles longer than the length of the Great Wall of China. Walls
surrounding Heaven are 396,000 times higher than the Great Wall of China
and eight times as thick. Heaven has twelve gates, three on each side
and has room for 100,000,000,000 souls. There are no slums. The entire
city is built of diamond material, and the streets are paved with gold.
All inhabitants are honest and there are no locks, no courts, and no
policemen."
- Reverend Dr. George Hawes, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as
quoted in the 776 Even Stupider Things Ever Said.

-- 
         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 think I know.