I got another stupid idea.
I was thinking recently about how the phrase "artificial intelligence" causes bad intuition. The standard LW answer is to talk instead of "optimization processes". That's all right I guess.
In an unrelated event, I remembered the idea of the "improbability drive" from A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The ID is a device that squeezes the probability distribution of the future into improbably good outcomes (like being randomly teleported across the universe due to quantum noise, or the hostess' dress jumping 2 feet to the right).
Anyways, I thought it might be nice to explain an AI as an improbability drive. Employ a different set of intuitions.
yep...
As I recall, what the probability drive did in practice was further the plot, at which point one character would ask "well that was convenient" and be told "I know,right? How very improbable!"
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post, even in Discussion, it goes here.