Moving vs. Copying (was Status of Superrationality)

From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Fri May 30 2003 - 22:46:00 MDT

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    Eliezer writes

    > > ### But isn't it the same as the totalist position?
    >
    > The totalist position says it is better to copy than to move.

    Whereas I think that maybe we discussed this before, I still
    cannot understand why you would rather move than copy. In
    order to perhaps gain some insight, let me formulate a thought
    experiment to find out your feelings on the matter.

    Suppose that on one bright and cheery morning, Eliezer is having
    an extremely good time. This is mainly (let us say) due to
    a commendable excess of serotonin operating in his CNS, but
    may also be due to having had a number of good breaks lately.
    Let us further suppose that there are two delightful problems
    to work on, A and B, both of which promise nice advances in
    the theory of AI friendliness.

    Now Eliezer finds that A is slightly more fun and perhaps
    slightly more promising than B, but so delightful and promising
    are both choices that he hesitates in choosing. Now to work
    on A, however, involves going to another office in another
    building.

    Are we to assume that you would copy---instead of move---but
    do so only because you are making a sacrifice for the sake of
    humanity? Namely, by getting to work on both A and B, you
    of course advance the cause of the Singularity (thus alleviating
    much pain and suffering in the world), but at some cost to
    yourself. The cost to yourself---if I have understood you
    correctly---is that it would be better for you to have moved
    rather than copied.

    To place myself in a parallel situation, suppose that Lee has
    two hours free at some particular time T in which to watch a
    great movie. Even better, there are two movies A and B that
    would be almost equally pleasurable to watch. Well, what I
    would do, of course, (being a totalist) is make a copy of
    myself for the interval of time (T, T+2hrs) and watch both
    movies. (We are not talking about any events subsequent to
    T+2hrs, and I hope that no one is distracted by such considerations.)
    Why shouldn't I get to watch both movies, and enjoy both, and
    why isn't this the best course of action for one?

    Lee

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