John_Maxwell_IV comments on Think Twice: A Response to Kevin Kelly on ‘Thinkism’ - Less Wrong

6 Post author: MichaelAnissimov 07 November 2012 06:07AM

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Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 08 November 2012 12:54:04AM *  4 points [-]

I think one way that people get a little caught up when thinking about the possibility of superintelligence is via the typical mind fallacy. Someone says "a superintelligence could theoretically do [super hard thing]" and my intuitive response is: "Yeah, but how plausible is that? Why would it even bother? That seems like it would take a lot of effort, and it probably wouldn't even work." By default I anchor on my own mind's capabilities (and motivation, even), instead of trying to think in information-theoretic terms, or figuring out what does and doesn't violate the laws of physics.