From: Michael S. Lorrey (mike@lorrey.com)
Date: Sat Apr 10 1999 - 22:55:25 MDT
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
>
> Scott Badger wrote:
> >
> > He told Morpheus that the
> > original simulation was a paradise for humans, but it didn't work out
> > because there's something about human nature that prevents us from adapting
> > to such an environment. It would seem that we are wired for misery. Very
> > non-transhumanistic I must say. And wouldn't that idea suggest that humans
> > would not be able to adapt to heaven if it existed?
>
> What on Earth do you think you're thinking?
> You're reasoning from your ideals to reality!
>
> In fact, it seems perfectly reasonably to assume that the human brain is
> no more designed to be happy and immortal than it is designed to run
> spreadsheets. Condition not present in ancestral environment. Limited
> memory capacity, emotional problems. Major redesign required.
Keep in mind that the agent that was yapping off was saying all sorts of
untrue things just in order to memetically break Morpheus. I would just
as easily beleive that the original AI conned people into jacking in
with the promise of paradise, enslaved them, and used them to expand its
own power.
I just saw the movie tonite, just got back in fact. This movie is
powerful stuff, memetically. I left the movie with the most intense
sense about the unreality of reality that I've ever had. I've always had
this sense in the back of my mind that reality was thus, which would
come to the fore after an intense meditation session, or after being on
nitrous oxide for a long while at the dentist. Tonite upon the ending of
the movie I have had the longest period of this sort of sensation I have
ever had (don't worry, no flying happened ;D ). It's been an hour and it
is only now starting to subside. No drugs, no stimulants, not even soda.
Driving home, I was on a country road that is normally difficult to
drive any faster than 35 or 40, yet when I looked at the speedometer, I
was doing 65 and it only seemed like I was doing 30.
Another thing I noticed was how the theater seemed to be populated by
every wannabe hacker in the Upper Valley.
The towers of people plugged into the system reminds me of the Shrike's
Tree of Pain in Simmons' Hyperion novels.
This movie is also very dangerous in that it plants in people minds the
idea that the Singularity that many of us predict for around 2025 is
going to be an evil thing (Morpheus says that's when the AI enslaved
humanity).
Mike Lorrey
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