Perplexed comments on Link: The Uncertain Future - "The Future According to You" - Less Wrong

6 Post author: XiXiDu 13 January 2011 05:44PM

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Comment author: Perplexed 14 January 2011 04:47:17PM 1 point [-]

...which almost suggests to me that maybe the optimal political policy to advocate is for things that reduce the likelihood and scope of prosaic disasters ...

Am I reading my results wrong?

No, I think you are reading them right. If your projection places the AI singularity more than a few decades out (given business-as-usual), then some other serious civilization-collapsing disaster is likely to arise before the FAI arrives to save us.

But, the scenario that most frightens me is that the near-prospect of an FAI might itself be the trigger for a collapse - due to something like the 'Artilect War' of de Garis.

Comment author: timtyler 14 January 2011 09:10:12PM *  1 point [-]

De Garis has luddites on one side of his war. That group has historically been impoverised and has lacked power. The government may well just declare them to be undesirable terrorists - and stomp on them - if they start causing trouble.

We can see the environmental movement today. They are usually fairly peace-loving. It doesn't seem terribly likely to me that their descendants will go into battle.