Technologos comments on Advice for AI makers - Less Wrong

7 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 14 January 2010 11:32AM

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Comment author: timtyler 17 January 2010 09:56:32AM *  1 point [-]

I figure a fair amount of modern heritable information (such as morals) will not be lost. Civilization seems to be getting better at keeping and passing on records. You pretty-much have to hypothesize a breakdown of civilization for much of genuine value to be lost - an unprecedented and unlikely phenomenon.

However, I expect increasing amounts of it to be preserved mostly in history books and museums as time passes. Over time, that will probably include most DNA-based creatures - including humans.

Evolution is rather like a rope. Just as no strand in a rope goes from one end to the other, most genes don't tend to do that either. That doesn't mean the rope is weak, or that future creatures are not - partly - our descendants.

Comment author: Technologos 17 January 2010 09:16:23PM 1 point [-]

an unprecedented and unlikely phenomenon

Possible precedents: the Library of Alexandria and the Dark Ages.

Comment author: timtyler 17 January 2010 09:27:33PM *  1 point [-]

Reaching, though: the dark ages were confined to Western Europe - and something like the Library of Alexandria couldn't happen these days - there are too many libraries.