Roko comments on The Strangest Thing An AI Could Tell You - Less Wrong

81 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 15 July 2009 02:27AM

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Comment deleted 15 July 2009 05:16:29PM [-]
Comment author: Marcello 16 July 2009 04:31:18AM 6 points [-]

Yes, we have a name from this, Religion

Agreed, but the fact that religion exists makes the prospect of similar things whose existence we are not aware of all the scarier. Imagine, for example, if there were something like a religion one of whose tenants is that you have to fool yourself into thinking that the religion doesn't exist most of the time.

Comment author: PeterS 16 July 2009 05:53:17AM *  8 points [-]

They say that everybody in the world who knows about "The Game" is playing The Game. This means that, right now, you are playing The Game. The objective of The Game is to forget about its existence and the fact that you are playing for as long as possible. Also, if you should remember, you must forget again as quickly as possible.

Comment author: Aurini 16 July 2009 08:23:43AM 6 points [-]

Given that you mentioned The Game (bastard), the most unexpected thing that the AI could possible say would be "The Game." Not the most interesting, but the most unexpected.

Well, okay, maybe something you'd never thought before would be more unexpected. But still.

Comment author: MBlume 16 July 2009 06:55:16AM 5 points [-]

bastard

Comment author: infotropism 16 July 2009 07:01:07AM 0 points [-]

What ?

Comment author: Z_M_Davis 16 July 2009 07:27:24AM *  1 point [-]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(mind_game)

EDITED because Markdown (which is infuriating) won't allow parentheses in URLs, nor does subsituting ")" seem to work.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 16 July 2009 10:40:50AM *  4 points [-]
Comment author: JulianMorrison 16 July 2009 12:53:25PM 6 points [-]

No, that fails, religion isn't absolute denial, it's just denial. On the other hand, cats are actually an absolute denial memetic virus, and the fact you can see, hold, weigh and measure a cat is just testament to the inventive self-delusion of the brain.

Comment author: SilasBarta 15 July 2009 05:39:09PM 1 point [-]

I don't think it's so much the tone of voice, but think about it this way: how many people "go through the motions" of saying "I believe in God" etc. just for the social benefits that religion provides? And so are just as happy to help bring others in?

Comment author: nerzhin 15 July 2009 07:32:19PM 2 points [-]

How do you distinguish between going through the motions and believing?

Comment author: SilasBarta 15 July 2009 08:08:59PM 7 points [-]

The difference is that when you really believe somehting, your internal predictive model of reality contains it, which would mean you sometimes predict different results and act accordingly.

Comment author: randallsquared 16 July 2009 01:53:59AM 6 points [-]

Externally, I don't know, but it sure feels different. Also, there's a partial-believing state that I was in for years as a child and teenager, where I didn't really believe (and hence didn't pray except to show belief in public), but I still kinda believed (and hence was afraid that God would punish me for sinning). At the same time.