nyan_sandwich comments on By Which It May Be Judged - Less Wrong

35 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 10 December 2012 04:26AM

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Comment author: Decius 14 December 2012 11:48:54PM 0 points [-]

Yes. Suppressing knowledge of any kind is evil. It's not the only thing which is evil, and acts are not necessarily good because they also disseminate knowledge.

Comment author: [deleted] 15 December 2012 12:05:27AM 1 point [-]

It's not the only thing which is evil

This has interesting implications.

Other more evil things (like lots of people dieing) can sometimes be prevented by doing a less evil thing (like suppressing knowledge). For example, the code for an AI that would foom, but does not have friendliness guarantees, is a prime candidate for suppression.

So saying that something is evil is not the last word on whether or not it should be done, or how it's doers should be judged.

Comment author: Decius 15 December 2012 12:41:27AM 0 points [-]

Code, instructions, and many things that can be expressed as information are only incidentally knowledge. There's nothing evil about writing a program and then deleting it; there is something evil about passing a law which prohibits programming from being taught, because programmers might create an unfriendly AI.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 16 December 2012 04:21:47AM 1 point [-]

Code, instructions, and many things that can be expressed as information are only incidentally knowledge.

Well, the knowledge from the tree appears to also have been knowledge of this kind.

Comment author: Decius 16 December 2012 08:53:50PM 0 points [-]

I draw comparisons between the serpent offering the apple, the Titan Prometheus, and Odin sacrificing his eye. Do you think that the comparison of those knowledge myths is unfair?