Re: How To Live In A Simulation

From: Nick Bostrom (nick@nickbostrom.com)
Date: Fri Mar 16 2001 - 21:53:02 MST


Robert Bradbury wrote:

> > is the only way of preventing a black goo disaster.
>
>Actually, I think the standard term is "gray goo",

I use "black goo" to denote specifically the scenario where deliberately
designed nanobots destroy the world, as distinct from an accidental
disaster (for which I reserve the term "gray goo").

> > A third reason is that if there is a singularity then the transcending
> > power might well get enough power to become a singleton.
>
>Yes, I think this is a variant of the runaway first upload (which
>may be part of Robin's "If Uploads Come First", I can't remember.

Robin's paper doesn't say that the first upload becomes a singleton; he
just argues that there'd be big advantages for it.

Another possibility for a singleton to arise in this fashion is the
transcending seed AI scenario.

Nick Bostrom
Department of Philosophy
Yale University
Homepage: http://www.nickbostrom.com



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