Phil:

"If we are so unfortunate as to live in a universe in which knowledge is finite, then conflict may serve as a substitute for ignorance in providing us a challenge."

This is inconsistent. What would conflict really do is to provide new information to process ("knowledge").

I guess I can agree with the rest of post. What IMO is worth pointing out that the most pleasures, hormones and insticts excluded, are about processing 'interesting' infromations.

I guess, somewhere deep in all sentient beings, "interesting informations" are the ultimate joy. This has dire implications for any strong AGI.

I mean, the real pleasure for AGI has to be about acquiring new information patterns. Would not it be a little bit stupid to paperclip solar system in that case?