From: James Higgins (jameshiggins@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri Mar 16 2001 - 23:55:43 MST
At 03:33 PM 3/16/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>At 9:12 AM -0700 3/16/01, James Higgins wrote:
>>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.
>>
>>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?
>
>To me, this seems to largely be a non issue. Post Singularity, there will
>not be much need for children (why would an SI need children when ve can
>split verself into seperate streams temporarily when necessary). If an SI
>did need children, just start a new seed AI. Any SI is going to have to be
>able to reprogram verself, so there would be no destincion between who
>started out as an AI and who was post human.
>
>It should be possible to upload children and just treat them like we would
>a seed AI: not fully developed yet but with lots of potential. Plus, you
>have to consider the age. I would say that a child under 3 years old is
>not really something worth uploading, since they have not yet developed to
>a point where they might be something other than just another baby
>mentally. In fact, I would say that for several years still it would be
>until a child had developed enough to be really worth uploading. If
>uploaded younger, they would all be pretty much the same because they
>haven't had enough time to gain many experiences and develop a clearly
>defined personality. Of course, many people never really develop a
>personality and just do whatever everyone else tells them to, but then
>Eliezer brought up about being iconoclasts not to long ago, so those
>people who aren't probably won't care to upload (since they're human
>friends won't tell them to).
Wow, could you be more cold and limited?
So, children in general are a non-issue and those under age 3 aren't
"worth" uploading. Do you suggest tearing them apart for spare atoms then?
And you assume that SIs will only do what is required. Sure, SIs should be
capable of duplicating themselves, but have you considered that just
*maybe* they would *want* to produce new, unique minds? Unless I am
woefully mistaken, the goal is to create intelligence beyond our own that
has free will. I don't know about you, but I have no interest in uploading
if I can't enjoy myself on the other side. Borg is not my idea of an ideal
future.
To be frank, I thought I was on the low end of compassion. Guess it's time
to re-calibrate.
James Higgins
P.S. Sorry to everyone for the flame, but I haven't read anything that
irked me this much in years. Obviously he doesn't have kids.
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