Re: The AI revolution

Alexander Chislenko (sasha1@netcom.com)
Thu, 2 Jul 1998 02:11:16 -0700 (PDT)

Money needed to retrieve an astronaut from orbit could be used to save lives of hundreds people on Earth. Rationally (that is, if we count thember of lives) there may be no point in getting astronauts back. There are other examples; I strongly doubt that human ethics could be reduced to a set of logical rules. That is not to say that it is superior to logic. It's just quite often irrational.

On the other hand, AIs could probably design a very consistent code that they would require humans to follow. Since well-backed-up AIs should be immortal, this code will probably require that humans do not inflict economic damage on AIs possessions - or else. And since inefficient use of resources by clumsy and slow humans should be rationally classified as damage or waste, some kind of 'else' scenario - restricting human activity to a level proportional to people's [rapidly diminishing] value - seems inevitable...