I find it hard to conceive of falling into misery because I do not live in a future society where an all-powerful FAI seeking the best interests of each individual and of the species governs perfectly. I am glad that I do not have to work as a subsistence peasant, at risk of starvation if the harvest is poor, and I have some envy of celebrities that I see.

I think a lot of misery comes from wanting the World to be other than it is, without the power to change it. Everybody knows it: I need courage to change what I can change, serenity to accept what I can't change, wisdom to know the difference. It is not easy, but it is simple (this last sentence comes from House MD).

I want to Breed, with the most attractive possible real mate. I want to bring up my children to be the best they can be, and for them me and partner to continue to improve our ideas of what the Best is.

This raises the likelihood of, perhaps permanent, unhappiness for many people- and perhaps because of this, the possibility in whatever wonderful future, the possibility of happiness and fulfilment. Choices about how to spend ones time, how, if at all, to improve onesself, arise from the central problem of breeding.

"Pull out the wires"- the person is in a state of Cognitive Dissonance, perceptions of reality which conflict with all previous perceptions. I think it a strong possibility that the person would feel a complete crisis, having no way of trusting either the current perceptions or previous perceptions of reality. If I did not collapse into a shivering heap, I hope I too would say, "Pull out the wires"- if it IS real, I want to be there.

Z M Davis, "Autogynephilia" is a theory, based on the observation that some M-F transsexual people are sexually aroused by female behaviour, which imagines that the arousal causes the desire to appear female. However, in reality the desire may be caused by other circumstances, such as innate brain differences, and supporters of autogynephilia theory have not established the causal link.

It is a failure of the imagination, an attempt to enforce the map on the reality. There are men, and there are women, in the map. Here is a woman with testicles. The map says that cannot be so, the person is a man. However, reality ought to trump the map.

The point of the post still stands. A man does not use a woman's body, and would have to learn how to do so. A man does not use a woman's brain, and would have to learn how to do so. Whether after the change was made it was "the same person" depends on what you mean by "the same person". Upgrading an adult brain is a very difficult problem.

Do the humans know that the Friendly AI exists?

From my own motivation, if I knew that the rules had been made easier than independent life, I would lack all motivation to work. Would the FAI allow me to kill myself, or harm others? If not, then why not provide a Culture-like existence?

I would want to be able to drop out of the game, now and then, have a rest in an easier habitat. Humans can Despair. If the game is too painful, then they will.

A good parent will bring a child on, giving challenges which are just challenging enough to be interesting, without being too challenging and guaranteeing failure. If the FAI is always going to be more superior to any individual than any parent can be, could one opt to be challenged like that, directly by the FAI, to reach ones greatest potential?

What I want are fundamental choices, not choices within a scheme the FAI dreams up.

http://planetpolice.org/?author=54

A British police blogger says that people sometimes want an off-record "talking to", but UK police will no longer do this. This is a false belief: the police will do as I want, or behave in the way I consider sensible. The blogger says that they will not.

Well, let's see. There are friendly AIs and automated technology carrying out all the needs of life, so that human beings do not need to work, and anything which damages human cells can be fixed, so we are immortal if we wish to be.

For me, pleasure comes from achievement. But in this world, there is nothing which I can achieve which the AIs cannot achieve better. Or, if it is entertaining other people, perhaps a few manage this, and the rest fail to create any interest at all in their peers. If achievement is possible, failure is possible. If people decide to pass the time in conflict or competition, there is only one winner of chess or sprinting, and only a few people who are close enough to that winner to keep training.

So I become an eyeless limbless blob having endless orgasms.

So to avoid this, the AIs, being friendly, set challenges for the humans to overcome, so that the humans can be the best each can be. So that the species evolves. So the AIs go away and do other things, taking as much interest in the humans as the God of the Deists does.

Or- I fulfil myself by making my brain, body and Wisdom as good as they can be. I find, reading, say, the Tao Te Ching, or some sayings of Jesus (!) that I only understand them when I have learned the lesson elsewhere. I enjoy associating with other people who are at higher stages of wisdom, so that I can learn, and lower stages of wisdom, so I can teach, and am not always certain which is which. I take delight in what this world of utter comfort and endless possibility can bring.

Addicts recover. If you find the thought of having endless orgasms repulsive, might not the person who had, er, sunk so low, also find his state repulsive, eventually? I hope the humans and AIs together are creative enough to bring fulfilment for each human being in this paradise.

I watch kittens "playing", definitely building useful skills for the future. I enjoy effort on puzzles and games because each gives me a moment of pleasure on success, and no bad consequences of failure, but some games improve reactions or are otherwise useful.

The "Culture" sequence of novels by Iain M. Banks suggests how people might cope with machines doing all the work. One man works in a cafe, waiting on tables and cleaning up. Yes, the machines could do this work, but he gains happiness from the feeling of serving other people. Other people use machines which "surf" on lava flows, involving some danger, for excitement.

The problems around breeding would still provide interest, angst, challenge.

Artists could still work, though machines might be better able to communicate than humans.

Luzr asked, "Abigail: 'Religion has great benefits for a society and for individuals, even if there is no creator God.' And these are?"

Too many to list here. For example, people think religions cause wars, such as the Crusades. But what if humans would have the wars anyway, because we form tribal groups, but religion mitigates the worst effects of these wars, by just war theory?

Billswift: I am not sure that I am "Obviously religious".

Luzr asked me "What makes you think religion is not understandable to atheists?"

Dawkins' concept of the meme. No, religion is not like a virus. Religion has great benefits for a society and for individuals, even if there is no creator God. Overcoming bias may have great benefits- if we can retain the benefits of religion for those who need it.

Religion might be more understandable to atheists if they thought of "God" as a representation of humanity. Jesus was a sacrifice propitiating the wrath of humankind, not the wrath of God. The individual human, unable to be in control of his surroundings, nevertheless sees Society supporting him, providing food and DVD players from the other side of the world, and adopts attitudes of thankfulness and worship.