Re: Dyson (Was: Paths to Uploading)

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Sun, 10 Jan 1999 11:18:57 -0600

KPJ wrote:
>
> Your meme system defines some acts correct and some incorrect.
> The correct behaviour according to your meme system it labels "right".
> The incorrect behaviour according to your meme system it labels "wrong".
[...]
> I suggest rational thought to dynamically decide which meme systems have
> the best merits in a specific situation as well as in a longer perspective.

Um, how exactly do you decide what "best merits" are without a meme system? Undoubtedly the Catholic meme system holds that it is the best meme system for all possible situations.

> The postulates for such a thought system should be specified explicitly
> and why they have been selected.

Ah, but in _my_ meme system, rather than selecting the _best_ merits, you should select the _worst_ merits; and moreover, explicitly specifying postulates is a terrifying crime. Also you're supposed to drop napalm on your local K-Mart.

And what do you mean, "why they have been selected"? One meme system is as good as another. Explanation implies some way of choosing between meme systems, that one meme system is objectively right and the others are wrong. 

-- 
        sentience@pobox.com         Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
         http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
          http://pobox.com/~sentience/sing_analysis.html
Disclaimer:  Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.