From: James Higgins (jameshiggins@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri Mar 16 2001 - 09:12:39 MST
At 08:46 PM 3/14/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Nick Bostrom wrote:
>
> > Indeed, in some respects Eliezer seems more like one of those slightly
> > implausible characters that might have been added for dramatic effect ;-)
>
>I'm fairly sure that years 14-17 were in *someone's* real life - I really
>can't see someone putting that into an educational simulation except for
>the sake of historical accuracy. If this is a simulation, I don't expect
>that I have much free will.
>
>I tend to deprecate the "amoral posthumans simulating whole civilizations"
>hypothesis - (a) I don't think it's true, (b) our civilization currently
>seems to be on track for either extermination or Friendliness (neither
>future allows the amoral simulation of whole civilizations), and (c) if it
>is true, there's not much I can do about it.
Has anyone considered the possibility of using simulations to generate
offspring? Brief thought on the subject makes me think that spawning *new*
life after the Singularity might be difficult. Can you imagine a 3 year
old (our relative time frame) with godlike capability? And how would a 3
year old communicate with super intelligence? I suppose they could start
new beings at a more advanced stage, but then is it really new or is some
of the underlying mentality just reworked? I've been thinking that the
simple answer (certainly not from *our* perspective) may be to just
simulate the pre-singularity world and have them evolve into AI like we
will/have.
If that is at all probable, then this is the ideal time frame to
simulate. Starting the simulation off around 1960-1970 produces a large
batch of 30-50 year olds who evolve (assuming it hits in 2010). I would
further assume that if this is the case they have identified the ideal
transition (average) age in consideration of moral / social / intellectual
development.
Everyone else in the simulation (not ripe for conversion) could be either
based on our "parents" as they were pre-singularity or would, I assume, be
somehow transferred to another simulation if they are too young to make the
transition in this one.
By the way, has anyone given any thoughts to what happens to kids when we
discover the Singularity? I've put a hold on the possibility of our having
kids for the moment due to this line of thought. Assuming we are in the
*real* world and will be the first to get to the singularity, I am fairly
worried about what happens to individuals deemed too young to evolve. Has
anyone else thought about this?
James Higgins
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