From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Dec 12 2000 - 15:12:17 MST
Dan Fabulich wrote:
>
> You know, I've been here for several years, and I must say, this is
> right up there as one of the strangest exchanges I've ever seen on
> this list.
Why, thank you!
Perhaps this will all become clearer if I relate a story: I was recently,
a few weeks back, waiting at an airport. Next to me was a family, also
waiting - a mother, a very young boy (4 or 5), and a slightly older girl.
The boy had five pennies. He would lay them out on the table next to me,
in patterns - the one I saw was a star, a penny at the center and four
other pennies in a square around it - and then pick up the pennies again
and count them. "One, two, three, four, five. I have five pennies."
What would *you* have done?
I, of course, took out my wallet, as unobtrusively as possible, and
extracted all the pennies - I had five. I didn't have to do this part
completely invisibly, since there was no logical reason for the people
next to me to notice - there was no way they could know that I was taking
out pennies - but I did want to make sure there was nothing memorable
about the action. Anyway, the next time the kid's back was turned - and
his mother and sister were looking away, of course - I carefully and
quietly put a penny on the table. He noticed it, picked it up, added it
to his collection, and then counted. "One, two, three, four, five, six.
I have six pennies." Then he started to lay them out again. Again, I
waited for my moment, then added another two pennies. "One, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight. I have eight pennies." He turned away and
started tugging on Mommy's sleeve.
Boy: "Mommy, I have eight pennies."
Mommy (clearly not paying any attention): "That's nice, dear."
Eliezer (while boy's back is turned): Adds another penny.
His sister actually caught me at this point, but I managed to put a finger
to my lips - the silent "Shhh!" gesture - before she started laughing. So
she just watched, though with a big smile on her face.
Boy (counts again): "Mommy, I have nine pennies."
Mommy: "Uh huh."
At this point I tried to add a tenth penny, but the boy turned around
before I was ready and caught me - he said "Hey!" - and we all started
laughing.
What are *you* complaining about? He got to keep the pennies. My
original plan, if I hadn't been caught, was to go up to ten pennies and
then start stealing them until he was back down to five. That would have
enlivened not just one day but the rest of his life.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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