Can you please elaborate on "trades across universes"? Do you mean something like quantum civilization suicide, as in Nick Bostrom's paper on that topic?
Here's Nesov's elaboration of his trading across possible worlds idea.
Personally, I think it's an interesting idea, but I'm skeptical that it can really work, except maybe in very limited circumstances such as when the trading partners are nearly identical.
A friend of mine is about to launch himself heavily into the realm of AI programming. The details of his approach aren't important; probabilities dictate that he is unlikely to score a major success. He's asked me for advice, however, on how to design a safe(r) AI. I've been pointing him in the right directions and sending him links to useful posts on this blog and the SIAI.
Do people here have any recommendations they'd like me to pass on? Hopefully, these may form the basis of a condensed 'warning pack' for other AI makers.
Addendum: Advice along the lines of "don't do it" is vital and good, but unlikely to be followed. Coding will nearly certainly happen; is there any way of making it less genocidally risky?