Kaj_Sotala comments on The RPG Thread - Less Wrong

11 Post author: Raw_Power 27 June 2011 05:22PM

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Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 27 June 2011 06:16:27PM 3 points [-]

It also has SIAI (named "Singularity Foundation") in the backstory.

Comment author: Raw_Power 27 June 2011 06:52:23PM 3 points [-]

Of course, any Hard Sci-Fi work should have at least that much. What I'm worried about is the role we'll play there... The vanguard of the new era, a ragtag bunch of pioneers whose work wasn't very fruitful in itself but tore open the path for greater endeavors, a plain old dead branch in the tree of science evolution... or harbingers of DOOM?

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 28 June 2011 01:09:46PM *  9 points [-]

From the book (technically from the GM-only section, but not really a spoiler for most campaigns):

The Singularity Foundation—formed at the dawn of the 21st century—was dedicated to the creation of safe articial intelligence software, while raising awareness of the benefits and dangers AIs represented. A fervent believer in the singularity doctrine that technology would move towards a single explosion of advancements that would forever reshape humanity, the Singularity Foundation was a strong advocate for creating friendly AIs that would help protect humanity from an uncontrolled, dangerous singularity event. This group was significant in that it secretly succeeded in creating a group of friendly seed AIs before the Fall. These Prometheans were indispensable in protecting transhumanity and countering the TITAN threat during the Fall.

("Seed AI" is a term Eliezer coined, in case it isn't already obvious that the writers have been reading the SIAI website.)

Comment author: Raw_Power 28 June 2011 04:49:01PM 1 point [-]

LOL we did end up saving the world!

Comment author: CronoDAS 30 June 2011 01:56:43AM *  0 points [-]

Actually, if I understand the setting right, the Earth itself ended up under the control of Unfriendly AI (the TITANs), so technically "the world" was not saved - although plenty of people were.