Anybody who gives their nephews cash is a cool uncle (or grandfathers),
though eli is being a bit stingy. Then again, that kid was not his
relative either. Now, a real uncle or grandfather would pull silver
dollars out of your ear at odd moments...
Justin Corwin wrote:
>
> as enjoyable and uplifting a story that is, i'm completely unable to find a
> connection to your amatuer psychic exchange.
>
> you would, however make a cool uncle
>
> justin
>
> >From: "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com>
> >Reply-To: extropians@extropy.org
> >To: extropians@extropy.org
> >Subject: Re: Nicq's Details was: Reason +/-Faith
> >Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 17:12:17 -0500
> >
> >Dan Fabulich wrote:
> > >
> > > You know, I've been here for several years, and I must say, this is
> > > right up there as one of the strangest exchanges I've ever seen on
> > > this list.
> >
> >Why, thank you!
> >
> >Perhaps this will all become clearer if I relate a story: I was recently,
> >a few weeks back, waiting at an airport. Next to me was a family, also
> >waiting - a mother, a very young boy (4 or 5), and a slightly older girl.
> >The boy had five pennies. He would lay them out on the table next to me,
> >in patterns - the one I saw was a star, a penny at the center and four
> >other pennies in a square around it - and then pick up the pennies again
> >and count them. "One, two, three, four, five. I have five pennies."
> >
> >What would *you* have done?
> >
> >I, of course, took out my wallet, as unobtrusively as possible, and
> >extracted all the pennies - I had five. I didn't have to do this part
> >completely invisibly, since there was no logical reason for the people
> >next to me to notice - there was no way they could know that I was taking
> >out pennies - but I did want to make sure there was nothing memorable
> >about the action. Anyway, the next time the kid's back was turned - and
> >his mother and sister were looking away, of course - I carefully and
> >quietly put a penny on the table. He noticed it, picked it up, added it
> >to his collection, and then counted. "One, two, three, four, five, six.
> >I have six pennies." Then he started to lay them out again. Again, I
> >waited for my moment, then added another two pennies. "One, two, three,
> >four, five, six, seven, eight. I have eight pennies." He turned away and
> >started tugging on Mommy's sleeve.
> >
> >Boy: "Mommy, I have eight pennies."
> >Mommy (clearly not paying any attention): "That's nice, dear."
> >Eliezer (while boy's back is turned): Adds another penny.
> >
> >His sister actually caught me at this point, but I managed to put a finger
> >to my lips - the silent "Shhh!" gesture - before she started laughing. So
> >she just watched, though with a big smile on her face.
> >
> >Boy (counts again): "Mommy, I have nine pennies."
> >Mommy: "Uh huh."
> >
> >At this point I tried to add a tenth penny, but the boy turned around
> >before I was ready and caught me - he said "Hey!" - and we all started
> >laughing.
> >
> >
> >
> >What are *you* complaining about? He got to keep the pennies. My
> >original plan, if I hadn't been caught, was to go up to ten pennies and
> >then start stealing them until he was back down to five. That would have
> >enlivened not just one day but the rest of his life.
> >
> >-- -- -- -- --
> >Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
> >Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
>
> _____________________________________________________________________________________
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