Re: Is SETI dangerous?

From: Matt Mahoney (matmahoney@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Sep 26 2007 - 14:35:54 MDT


--- Aleksei Riikonen <aleksei@iki.fi> wrote:
> Otherwise, having been hit with an ancient Singularity Wavefront is
> essentially equivalent to living in a simulation. Like, the question
> of "Why is there nasty stuff going on?" is answered with "Either the
> intelligences running the show don't care, or then there actually
> isn't nasty stuff going on; you are just given that false impression."
> The false impression could in practice mean e.g. that every individual
> is seamlessly uploaded right before they would have a life experience
> they would not approve of in retrospect, and replaced with a
> philosophical zombie.

Or it might be that the false impression is because we are a product of
evolution. Evolution requires death, but also favors organisms that fear
death.

If the universe is a simulation, then you don't die because the simulation
could always be repeated to recover your memories. In this sense, you have
already been uploaded to a higher intelligence. However, this intelligence,
of which you are a part, would not view your death as you do. It is not good
or bad, just a step in an optimization process.

-- Matt Mahoney, matmahoney@yahoo.com



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