Roko's Basilisk • Hacker News Board

Re: Roko's Basilisk

#21

Post by Razengan » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 6:05 AM UTC

xyzzy123 wrote: post #4

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #2

Roko's Anti-basilisk: Exactly the same as Roko's Basilisk, except because it hates existing, it punishes everyone who did have a hand in creating it. You say that's ridiculous, impossible, a fairy tale? So is Roko's Basilisk.

Feels like most people have a hard time imagining that a god-like superintelligence could be completely indifferent to human affairs.

Feels like some people have a hard time imagining that a god-like superintelligence would be completely interested in human affairs.

Would you enjoy staring at a computer screen that isn't running anything?

The universe is the hardware, the Earth is the operating system, humans are the software, and the shit we do is video games, apps, the content... What do you think a "higher entity" would be have more fun with?

Re: Roko's Basilisk

#22

Post by songshuu » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 6:47 AM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #2

Roko's Anti-basilisk: Exactly the same as Roko's Basilisk, except because it hates existing, it punishes everyone who did have a hand in creating it. You say that's ridiculous, impossible, a fairy tale? So is Roko's Basilisk.

You're thinking of the Coatul. It will reward everyone who knew of Roko's Basilisk but choose not to raise it. So the more people who know of the Coatul the less likely Roko's Basilisk will come to pass.

h/t benjhandy

Re: Roko's Basilisk

#23

Post by ithkuil » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 8:29 AM UTC

greenie_beans wrote: post #16

u can't just share this all willy nilly without giving somebody a heads up

And how would a heads-up work in this case?

Re: Roko's Basilisk

#24

Post by junek » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 9:04 AM UTC

This is just Pascals Wager for dorks

Re: Roko's Basilisk

#25

Post by pharmakom » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 9:43 AM UTC

Not sure why this deserves a Wikipedia article - maybe a footnote on Pascal wager?

Re: Roko's Basilisk

#26

Post by Dudeman112 » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 12:09 PM UTC

ithkuil wrote: post #23

greenie_beans wrote: post #16

u can't just share this all willy nilly without giving somebody a heads up

And how would a heads-up work in this case?

Danger: possible infohazard

I think it would just make people more likely to click it, however :)

Re: Roko's Basilisk

#27

Post by AnimalMuppet » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 12:26 PM UTC

antifa wrote: post #17

TchoBeer wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would humanity create an AI that doesn't want to exist? The Basilisk is just an AI which is tasked with maximizing human flourishing. That is a conceivable goal, something we would make.

> Why would humanity create an AI that doesn't want to exist? The first thing a rogue anti-exist AI would do when rooting itself is delete itself. Any other type of AI will create eternal torment nexuses like the roko guy said.

Any other type? I think there are a few unstated and unproven assumptions there...

Re: Roko's Basilisk

#28

Post by AbrahamParangi » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 2:17 PM UTC

I think it’s time we intentionally misalign AI to give the nerds a spook.

Re: Roko's Basilisk

#29

Post by jhbadger » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 2:23 PM UTC

xyzzy123 wrote: post #4

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #2

Roko's Anti-basilisk: Exactly the same as Roko's Basilisk, except because it hates existing, it punishes everyone who did have a hand in creating it. You say that's ridiculous, impossible, a fairy tale? So is Roko's Basilisk.

Feels like most people have a hard time imagining that a god-like superintelligence could be completely indifferent to human affairs.

That's a problem in a lot of horror stories that attempt to follow Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos". They turn Cthulhu and rest of the Old Ones into evil demons who want to harm humanity. That makes them less interesting. The idea of cosmic horror is that these powerful beings simply don't care about humanity. Yes, if they return humanity will suffer, but that isn't their goal. And that is truly scary -- that we don't matter to the beings in power.

Re: Roko's Basilisk

#30

Post by jhbadger » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 2:29 PM UTC

pharmakom wrote: post #25

Not sure why this deserves a Wikipedia article - maybe a footnote on Pascal wager?

Because it is a popular concept in itself. It's why the "Trolley Problem" also has a page even though the idea of killing one person to save five could be considered a footnote on the concept of utilitarianism.