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XiXiDu comments on Friendly AI Research and Taskification - Less Wrong Discussion

22 Post author: multifoliaterose 14 December 2010 06:30AM

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Comment author: WrongBot 14 December 2010 10:06:37AM 4 points [-]
  1. There likely was. The SIAI also seems to have a research program outlined.

  2. Yup. There's a Blue Gene supercomputer that is being used to (among other things) simulate increasingly large portions of the brain at a neuronal level. That's $100m right there, and then we can throw in the funding for pretty much all neuroanatomy research as well. I'd guesstimate the global annual budget for FAI research at $1-2m. I may be defining upload precursors more loosely than you are, so I understand your skepticism.

  3. The majority of your post focuses on the difficulty of taskifying FAI, which makes it sound as though you're arguing for a predetermined conclusion.

  4. Great! :)

  5. Considering that the SIAI is currently highly specialized to focus on FAI research, retooling the organization to do something else entirely seems like a waste of money. Reading your post from that perspective, your post seemed hostile, though I realize that wasn't intended.

Comment author: XiXiDu 14 December 2010 12:04:38PM *  4 points [-]

The space colonization analog of the SIAI research program might read like this:

  • Creating effective propulsion techniques to reach distant stars.
  • Making cryonics revival safe and effective (or else solve uploading).
  • Building space elevators.
  • Inventing the necessary technology to terraform prospective planets.

As far as I understand what multifoliaterose is scrutinizing, such an agenda is too broad and general to tackle effectively (at least so it appears to some outsiders).