From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Jan 29 2002 - 18:47:52 MST
Robert Coyote wrote:
>
> Again IMHO the idea of 'purpose' is wholly human and nonsensical, as is the
> idea of 'why', we could remove the idea (and word) 'why from the language
> and it would not be missed much, it would be replaced by things like 'what
> causes'.
>
> Mommy why did that little bird die?
> The bird died because it flew into the window and smashed its head.
> Yes but whyyyyyy did it die??
> because it needs a healthy brain to be alive and its brain was broken.
> No mommy.. whyyyyy did it have to die.. it was a pretty bird!!
> Life stops when too much damage occurs.
> (I know I'd be a bad father yea yea)
** The transhumanist answer **
Mommy, why did that little bird die?
The bird died because it flew into the window and split its head open like
a rotten tomato.
Yes but whyyyyyy did it die??
Most birds do at that point.
No mommy.. whyyyyy did it have to die.. it was a pretty bird!!
It didn't have to die... its death was completely pointless.
Can we make it not dead?
Not yet, dear. Your mommy is working on it.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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