[My apologies. I am reposting this after having failed abjectly to keep topic discipline. I'm so terribly sorry. How about if I shave my head as a penance?]
Lyle Burkhead wrote:
>
Eliezer Yudkowsky sighed, shaking his head. "I knew it. Well, so much for this planet. Another warning ignored, only to be proved right all too late." He took out a little book and added a tally mark.
"Quick, let's launch the emergency Mars evacuation vehicle!" cried den Otter. Suiting actions to words, he dashed into the one-man vehicle and took off.
"Let's use the anti-grey-goo nuclear weapons!" cried Nick Bostrum. "No, the blue goo!" "The active immune systems!" The room threatened to degenerate into chaos.
"Wait!" cried Lyle Burkhead. All conversation instantly hushed, as the room turned toward the one man who had not spoken.
"If the goo replicates..." he said slowly, his immense forehead bulging from the effort of cogitation, "IT MUST BE ALIVE! It's *biological*!"
Pandemonium ensued. Robin Hanson dashed over to the case marked "Open In Emergency Only", took the mallet, smashed the glass case, and reverently lifted out the Webster's English Dictionary. "Yes! He's right!"
-- sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html http://pobox.com/~sentience/singul_arity.html Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you everything I think I know.