RE: Singularity: AI Morality

Robin Hanson (hanson@econ.berkeley.edu)
Mon, 14 Dec 1998 10:17:59 -0800

Billy Brown wrote:
>> You can you possibly know this about AIs? I know of a great many
>> programs that have been written by AI researchers that use conflicting
>> goal systems, where conflicts are resolved by some executive module.
>> Maybe those approaches will win out in the end.
>...
>In humans, there seem to be many different ways for a goal to be selected -
>sometimes we make a logical choice, sometimes we rely on emotions, and
>sometimes we act on impulse. There also does not seem to be a unified
>system for placing constraints on the methods used to pursue these goals -
>sometimes a moral system's prohibitions are obeyed, and sometimes they are
>ignored.
>
>If you want to implement a sentient AI, there is no obvious reason to do
>things this way. It would make more sense to implement as many mechanisms
>as you like for suggesting possible goals, then have a single system for
>selecting which ones to pursue.

There is no obvious reason to do things the way humans do, but there is no obvious reason not to either. I think it is fair to say that few things are obvious about high level AI organization and design.

Robin Hanson

hanson@econ.berkeley.edu     http://hanson.berkeley.edu/   
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