The Unthinkable Boredom of Avoidance

From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Sat Mar 17 2001 - 19:46:51 MST


Nick Bostrom has written,
It is unthinkable that a jupiterbrain SI
> wouldn't be able to figure out a way of avoiding the boredom emotion if
it
> chose to.

Hi Nick. Seems like a mighty long time, as the song goes. τΏτ
As a professional philosopher, your authority to question that which may
trouble a jupiterbrain SI earns my sincere respect (and mock condolence
τΏτ). Do you think a pre-jupiterbrain SI might consider suicide as a way
of avoiding the boredom emotion if it chose to do it, thus precluding the
unthinkable inability of a (fully fledged) jupiterbrain SI to figure out a
way of avoiding the boredom emotion? Do you think the correlation of
suicide with high intelligence in humans offers any clues in this regard?

Stay hungry,

--J. R.

Useless hypotheses: consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind,
free will
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http://www.shirky.com/writings/medialife.html
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