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MixedNuts comments on Constructing fictional eugenics (LW edition) - Less Wrong Discussion

16 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 29 October 2012 12:41AM

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Comment author: MixedNuts 29 October 2012 11:58:42AM 2 points [-]

No, the biggest downside is that everyone selects the super-duper awesome genome, and then the slightest change in environment brings humanity crashing down in flames because nobody was incentivized to value diversity.

Comment author: Emile 29 October 2012 04:31:20PM 6 points [-]

I don't think that's that likely.

A trait's value can be function of how many other people share it. To take a spherical-cow example; if for 90% of jobs it's better to be tall than to be short, everybody will want tall kids till 99% of the population is tall, and the 1% of short people can ask for higher wages for that 10% of jobs. Frequency-dependent selection can occur whether it's parents or Azathoth taking the decision.

Just look at the diversity of dog breeds, compared to wolves. Humans don't seem to value diversity less than Azathoth.

Comment author: [deleted] 30 October 2012 11:09:01AM 1 point [-]

Yes. When I was asked to (about half a decade ago), I voted to keep artificial insemination with semen other than your husband's illegal in my country mostly because of MixedNuts's concerns, but I've since changed my mind because of what you say.