From: Emlyn O'regan (oregan.emlyn@healthsolve.com.au)
Date: Mon Mar 11 2002 - 15:23:39 MST
Anders wrote:
> > and far more elegant than invading someplace (although there is no a
> > priori reason why violence might not be a relevant part of the
> > solution). The problem is that this assumes there is *one*
> such a being;
> > even if the smartest entity is twice as smart as the next
> smartest, if
> > there are enough complex entities running around the situation will
> > still overwhelm the hypothetical supermind. Even when one imagines a
>
Samantha replied:
>
> Unless the relatively smart manage to create a hugely more smart
> and wise mind than their own and that mind can find and
> understand the active elements and the effects of shifting and
> modifying those elements. Even this will not be enough for all
> of us to grow beyond our current limitations or for our
> institutions to transform.
>
Hey, this gives me an idea. Given that I am someone who does not feel *at
all* happy with the sysop scenario, how to peacefully rebel against it is
something I've wondered about.
Interestingly, it looks like one practical way to do so is to produce new
minds of comparable complexity to the sysopmind, even if they are not quite
in the same league, and give them the ability to act on the world. Their
very existence will render it unable to proceed in a reasonable manner. Once
they exist, it will be well aware that it will not be able to model the
universe well enough to make the excellent decisions required of it.
Also, I would assume that a benevolent sysopmind would not be able to
destroy these other minds, especially if its only critereon for doing so is
to simplify the space of actors. That's the opposite of benevolent :-)
It may decide to work with them, and they may form some new kind of sysop
community, or else the lesser minds might switch themselves off so that the
greater sysop can do its job. That seems unlikely to me, but if it did
happen, it would likely serve as a strong demonstration that the sysop
scenario is a good idea after all, and I should just behave well and play
nice.
Emlyn
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