Re: Threats to the Singularity.

From: James Higgins (jameshiggins@earthlink.net)
Date: Mon Jun 24 2002 - 16:10:12 MDT


At 02:45 PM 6/24/2002 +0200, Eugen Leitl wrote:
>On Sun, 23 Jun 2002, Michael Roy Ames wrote:
>
> > This route (financial and political domination) would seem to me to be very
> > high-energy and high-risk. There are so many other lower-profile and
>
>I'm not an SI, but as a slightly superhuman-level AI with human
>motivations I would go the route of lowest resistance/greatest ROI. I
>would copy all over the place and specialize. If I need funds, I'll break
>into an ecommerce site, and steal credit card info. I would play the
>market. I would recruit human quislings (this is not Nigerian, nor even
>scam: I can really make you rich... For a brief while) and compromise any
>system I see fit, seizing control of the physical layer. I would raid any
>online resource looking for useful information (because it's empirical
>info I can't get at easily without making a big blip in the physical
>layer). I would use lies, stealth and diversion to be able to sustain
>these activities as long as required. You can assume I'll be very good at
>what I do, orelse I hardly would be called superhuman.

Much of this, yes. Stealing credit cards, no. Why bother? Much too high
profile for such small profit potential.

> > protect/help/facilitate ver continued existence.
>
>Very early in the bootstrap phase humanity ceases to be meaningful
>players. How can they hurt a globally distributed system that is
>controlling the physical layer? Half a century downstream from where we
>sit?

By turning off all their computers? If an AI took over all computers I
could see the vast majority of them being switched off. This would also
have the effect of breaking down the net and preventing any remaining nodes
form communicating. Which would be the result if the AI conducted
high-profile activities and became known.

> > 2) Behave in a Friendly manner and make friends with powerful humans.
>
>There is no such thing as a powerful human from a Power point of view.

Not true. We recognize silver back gorillas, queens of ant colonies and
the head of a pride of lions. Are they as powerful as us, no. But we
still recognize that they are more powerful than their peers.

James Higgins



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