PhilGoetz comments on Other Existential Risks - Less Wrong

32 Post author: multifoliaterose 17 August 2010 09:24PM

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Comment author: PhilGoetz 18 August 2010 03:49:00PM 1 point [-]

As I've commented elsewhere, any event which would permanently prevent humans from creating a transhuman paradise is properly conceived of as an existential risk on account of the astronomical waste which would result.

Is there no post somewhere on LW explaining why paradises are bad? A paradise must be all exploitation and no exploration; hence, they are static.

Comment author: XiXiDu 18 August 2010 04:02:15PM *  1 point [-]

Jehovah's Witnesses interpret a paradise as a CEV. For example that humans will never able to grasp the full complexity of God is a feature that will allow for infinite exploration and satisfaction of our curiosity. We'll never run out of fun and challenges. So I'm not sure what definition of paradise you had in mind. But even colloquial a paradise implies that which brings satisfaction. Even most religious people are not as naive to suggest that there won't be losers and winners. Or that a paradise would be static.

Comment author: mkehrt 18 August 2010 11:59:23PM 0 points [-]

Not voted, because I think this is utterly fascinating and entirely off topic!

Comment author: PhilGoetz 18 August 2010 06:20:24PM -2 points [-]

I don't need a specific paradise in mind. Paradise means bad things don't happen, which means the entire society is highly optimized. Being highly-optimized requires being static. This is a general property of search/optimization algorithms.

Comment author: thomblake 18 August 2010 06:25:56PM 10 points [-]

Being highly-optimized requires being static.

I'm not sure why I should believe this. Given that one of the properties that we're presumably optimizing over is 'not being static'.

Comment author: multifoliaterose 18 August 2010 03:54:19PM 1 point [-]

I'm well aware of what you're talking about, when I referred to paradise I meant the word in a very broad sense.