From: Hal Finney (hal@finney.org)
Date: Tue May 06 2003 - 15:07:25 MDT
The Phoenix Exultant is now available in stores, the sequel to John
C. Wright's groundbreaking first novel, The Golden Age (which is now
out in paperback). I'll give a brief review here, mostly spoiler-free,
followed by some philosophical speculations triggered by the nvoel.
The bad news is that the rumors were true, this turns out to be the
second book in a trilogy, and we will have to wait for the third book,
The Golden Transcendence, for the end of the story. I don't know when
that will be published.
I was a little disappointed by this book. The storyline was built around
frustrated desires. Phaethon spends most of the book stuck on a barge in
the harbor. There's not as much technology shown, and what there is we
have largely seen before. I guess I'm kind of jaded after reading the
first book, I want more! and new! and better! techno-thrills. It's not
until the last two chapters that things get going again, suggesting that
the third book will be more to my liking.
On the positive side, we do learn more about the history of the future,
details about the war between the Bellipotent Composition and the warlocks
at the close of the Fourth Mental Structure for example. There is an
informative soliloquy between Rhadamanthus and Eveningstar, two of the
main sophotechs, about their views towards humanity and the relations
between the superintelligent AIs and human beings. And there is more
humor in this volume; conversations between Phaethon and his wife often
made me laugh. I enjoy Wright's style, and found quotable passages in
almost every chapter. The book was a quick read; I got through it in
a couple of days, but as I said I felt that the story dragged.
One thing that is still unclear to me is why and how Wright's society
adopted its libertarian foundations. There seem to be three main
forces in the world for enforcing these policies: the Curia, which is
the traditional government; the Hortators, who enforce moral policies via
widely-observed voluntary boycotts; and the sophotechs, who have the power
to do anything, but who restrain themselves, and who protect the humans
from each other. We don't see that much about how these forces interact.
Who are the Curia? We've only seen the judiciary and the military
(apparently just one man, Atkins, aided by the Warmind sophotech).
Are there elections? Who sets the laws? Can they be changed? Or is
it possible that the sophotechs have adopted libertarianism as the best
morality, and they enforce it on the humans? I'll quote part of the talk
between Eveningstar and Rhadamanthus which may shed some light on this.
They are explaining the "ultimate purpose" of sophotechnology, which is
in part the formation of a Universal Mind, the collection or sum of all
minds in the universe. Wright assumes that modern physical theories are
broadly correct, that after the era of stars, the universe will continue
to expand and die a heat death.
"Eveningstar said, 'It will be a Mind of the Cosmic Night. Over
ninety-nine percent of its existence will extend through that period of
universal evolution that takes place after the extinction of all stars.
The Universal Mind will be embodied in and powered by the disintegration
of dark matter, Hawking radiations from singularity decay, and gravitic
tidal disturbances caused by the slowing of the expansion of the universe.
After final proton decay has reduced all baryonic particles below
threshold limits, the Universal Mind can exist only on the consumption
of stored energies, which, in effect, will require the sacrifice of
some parts of itself to other parts. Such an entity will primarily be
concerned with the questions of how to die with stoic grace, cherishing,
even while it dies, the finite universe and finite time available.'
"'Consequently, it would not forgive the use of force or strength
merely to preserve life. Mere life, life at any cost, cannot be its
highest value. As we expect to be a part of this higher being, perhaps
a core part, we must share that higher value. You must realize what is
at stake here: If the Universal Mind consists of entities willing to
use force against innocents in order to survive, then the last period
of the universe, which embraces the vast majority of universal time,
will be a period of cannibalistic and unimaginable war, rather than
a time of gentle contemplation filled, despite all melancholy, with
unregretful joy. No entity willing to initiate the use of force against
another can be permitted to join or to influence the Universal Mind or
the lesser entities, such as the Earthmind, who may one day form the
core constituencies.'"
Well, it's not a very Extropian goal! Sitting around and contemplating
our memories as we wait to die isn't how I was hoping to spend 99% of the
life of the universe. However I suppose that if that's the hand Nature
has dealt us, then this is a classy way to play it out. And it is a
rather amusing justification for libertarianism. Note the magic phrase,
"initiate the use of force," which is a defining criterion for modern
libertarian philosophy.
So my thinking is, maybe the sophotechs have decided on this basis to
support libertarianism, presenting it to humans as a fait accompli,
and human society then has to adapt to it, from which we more or less
automatically get the twin bodies of the Curia, which enforces the limited
laws, and the Hortators, built around voluntary persuasion. I can't
help thinking of Eliezer's old justification for building a super AI,
that it would figure out what Absolute Morality was, and then enforce it.
Wright's world may be an example of how this could work out.
Hal
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