From: hal@finney.org
Date: Wed Feb 13 2002 - 12:28:58 MST
Anders writes, regarding the "tyranny of condescension":
> It is not obvious that the "tyranny" is even possible as stated. It is
> the old problem of information again; while the AI may (somehow) get
> around the usual problem that the ruling entity does not have full
> information about the desires and actions of its subjects, it still is
> forced to deal with an immense optimization problem that has to be
> solved in real-time. It is not clear whether this would involve
> preventing any bad encounter (and thus ending up with the risk of ending
> up in a local optimum leading to a far worse long-term outcome) or
> allowing some to happen in order to prevent worse problems in the
> future. To some extent this is what people do all the time - just think
> of a good host or hostess at a party - but it is not obvious at all that
> this can be scaled up arbitrarily.
Actually there is a simple technology which the AIs can exploit to
guide every facet of human society, arranging people's lives, guiding
their meetings and encounters. This is the key to the pervasive yet
nearly invisible control which keeps the entire human world running
smoothly.
They control the traffic lights.
Hal
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