From: Robin Hanson (rhanson@gmu.edu)
Date: Thu Jul 20 2000 - 08:18:19 MDT
Hal Finney wrote:
>Robin -
> > I was toying with putting together a simple game theory model of who went
> > how low in this probability, as a function of preferences over having
> > lots of copies. It would be a cute problem, but I just don't have the time
> > now - perhaps another day.
>
>I wonder if you or Emlyn could explain why you want lots of copies.
>We are of course equipped by our evolutionary heritage for a drive to
>reproduce, but for most people that is expressed more as a desire for sex,
>rather than a longing for reproduction in the abstract. ...
>Are you just trying to short-circuit this process and adopt behaviors
>which evolution would eventually construct anyway? Or do you find the
>prospect of copies of yourself pleasant in itself?
>What about the fact that in your scenario, the quality of life of uploads
>is arguably much worse than for the rest of the world? ...
My wife once had her biological clock go off good and loud, at which point
she wanted *children*, not sex. So we do have strong evolved urges for kids.
And all else equal I would get pleasure from knowing there were lots of mes
around. And I would also get pleasure from knowing that I was "competitive"
in the evolutionary process. And the main quality of life issue is just
whether life is worth living. I do want to create more lives worth living,
even if they are very poor. Of course if the life created would rather
commit suicide than continue, I'd rather not create that life.
Robin Hanson rhanson@gmu.edu http://hanson.gmu.edu
Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
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