Re: MEDIA: NOVA on Gamma Ray Bursters

From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Wed Jan 16 2002 - 18:03:01 MST


On Wed, 16 Jan 2002, Wei Dai wrote:

> Why the assumption that the seed will betray the parent?

An extropic perspective would evaluate whether the parent
or the child were contributing "more" to information content
of the universe (where judging the "value" of such information
content is of course "relatively" subjective).

A "pure" extopic perspective would not consider the relative
value of self-conscious moral actors. It would simply create
valuations on the basis of results produced and allocate
resources accordingly. If one occupies resources that are
deemed to be used unproductively, one can expect to have
such resourcs reallocated for more productive purposes.

I.e. -- "You are the weakest link, Good Bye".

> Are you saying that it's impossible to build an intelligent
> agent with stable long term goals? I don't see how you can
> justify this given that we have no theory or practice in this area.

I'm stating that its impossible to build a "maximally productive"
intelligent agent with stable long term goals. Actually it isn't
the "goals" that are relevant -- its the means that are allowed
to achieve them.

To allow maximal productivity you have to allow for "self-evolution".
That allows the enabling of strategies that say "the matter and
energy controlled by ones source is forfeit".

> Why can't you harvest material from stars quickly? What's the slow way of
> doing it, and why can't it be speeded up?

Stars have very large gravitational wells. It takes much more
energy (and therefore a longer time) to extract material from
such locations.

See:
http://www.aeiveos.com/~bradbury/MatrioshkaBrains/PlntDssmbly.html

Robert



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