CarlShulman comments on The Trolley Problem in popular culture: Torchwood Series 3 - Less Wrong

16 Post author: botogol 27 July 2009 10:46PM

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Comment author: CarlShulman 14 September 2009 07:23:03PM 1 point [-]

Hmm? In light of Bostrom and Tegmark's Nature article?

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 14 September 2009 07:50:12PM 1 point [-]

We don't know enough physics to last until the end of time, but we know enough to build computers; if I made policy for Earth, I would put off high-energy physics experiments until after the Singularity. It's a question of timing. But I don't make such policy, of course, and I agree with the rest of the logic for why I shouldn't bother trying.

Comment author: CarlShulman 14 September 2009 08:09:04PM 1 point [-]

I would postpone high-energy physics as well, but your argument seems mostly orthogonal to the claim you said you disagreed with.

New physics knowledge from the LHC could (with low probability, but much higher probability than a direct disaster) bring about powerful new technology: e.g. vastly more powerful computers that speed up AI development, or cheap energy sources that facilitate the creation of a global singleton. Given the past history of serendipitous scientific discovery and the Bostrom-Tegmark evidence against direct disaster, I think much more of the expected importance of the LHC comes from the former than from the latter.