Re: "Someone ought to do something" posts

From: Gordon Worley (redbird@rbisland.cx)
Date: Tue Sep 18 2001 - 20:59:14 MDT


At 9:07 PM -0400 9/18/01, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
>What's the point of writing "someone ought to do X" or "the transhumanist
>community ought to do X" or "Singularitarians ought to do X"? What good
>does it do? Which existing project should we halt to work on X? The
>people who have crossed over to doing something about it are not idle;
>they are working on whatever it was that moved them to cross over.
>
>"Someone ought to do X" is not news. "I am doing X" is news. Let SL4 be
>a refuge for the latter.

While I agree that this sort of post is not helpful, we do need a to
do list for the Singularitarian community. There are probably plenty
of people out there who say "I want to see the Singularity get here
sooner" but at the same time say "I don't know what to do". I'm sure
we must have plenty of stuff to do, even if it may require people
educating themselves a bit more to the level of Eli or Brian or Ben
(or me :-) (or someone I left out)) first.

So I don't sound like I'm not helping (I am, remember that paper I
just finished writing, not to mention my propagating of the
Singularity meme), I'll take on the task of maintaining the to do
list. It'll just be a static HTML thing and you'll have to e-mail
additions/errata/completions to me, but I'll keep it up. So, aside
from the following, what needs to go on here (send directly to me
rather than the list, I'll post a copy of the first version back here
when it's done)?

* Code a Transhuman AI.
* Figure out how to program Friendliness into an AI.
* Write a Seed AI.
* Get funding!!!
* Write articles about Singularity related topics to make sure they
are fully understood (for example, take some involved discussion on
this list, sort out the conclusions, and write it up in a coherent
manner).
* [Your items here].

-- 
Gordon Worley                     `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty
http://www.rbisland.cx/            said, `it means just what I choose
redbird@rbisland.cx                it to mean--neither more nor less.'
PGP:  0xBBD3B003                                  --Lewis Carroll


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