From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Wed Dec 13 2000 - 11:57:01 MST
"Michael S. Lorrey" wrote:
>
> "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
> >
> > If you were me, wouldn't Zeb have known that? Then again, if I were you,
> > would I have called my own bluff? Maybe you're me, but Zeb isn't. Either
> > way, the purpose of this posting is unclear.
>
> No, Eli, because only you are the dominant personality. It is normal
> that subservient personalities may or may not be aware of each others
> actions. Only the dominant one knows all. But you knew this already,
> since its really you that is typing this.
***
"Other Voices"
http://www.very.net/~nikolai/naststrg/voices.htm
d: <tap, tap>
n: go away.
d: <tap>
n: go away.
d: <tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap>
n: mother of bleeding christ, is there NO PEACE? not even in
HERE? why can't you just GO AWAY and let me rot in solitude?
aren't you content with alienating my friends, spending all my
money and, for the sake of the goddess, chat-fucking eddie clulow
in fidonet? EDDIE CLULOW? have you no sense of
RESPONSIBILITY?
d: i wanted to talk to you about this doctor thing.
n: (long, drawn-out sigh) what about it?
d: are you really -
n: YES, i am really. i don't think it'll do any good at first, but, hey,
you
never know.
d: but what if he decides that you're a voice in my head instead of
the other way round? what if he gets rid of you?
n: (enthusiastically) then i'll be at peace. either way, i can't lose.
and
if he does remove me instead, then, heh, you'll have to deal with
the real world instead of me. you'll have to face up to responsibility.
no more of that chatting up guys and then running away when they
get interested. no more spending the rent money on hardback
editions of John Shirley horror books. no more hanging up the
phone on my friends while i'm talking to them and then saying "oh,
it was one of the other Aspects, not me" and then interrupting when
i try to apologise and explain what happened.
d: not that anyone believes you.
m: excuse me! am i interrupting?
d:
n: YES
m: oh, good. who was it spent $38 on that Hematite ring at
Morticia's and then wrote in the diary that i did it?
n: (taps fingers on arm)
d: well, you're the goth, mirikai. are you saying you didn't do it?
m: what do you mean, "I'M the goth"? while we're discussing
finances, who was it spent sixty dollars on three metres of black
vinyl for a Cenobite costume?
d: ...
n: possibly the same Aspect who picked up that leaflet from Slow
Glass, about the Costumer's Ball in June.
m: i only spend money on alcohol at Abyss. i can see no nobler
purpose for money than this.
n: if i lose any more brain cells, it's coming out of your patch.
m: aaaah ha ha hah. "i see you have made your decision. now, let's
see you enforce it."
d" see? Crow quotes! you're a goth!
m: and you're a pain.
n: you're BOTH pains. why can't you leave the disbursment of funds
to me?
d: maybe we don't want to spend all of our money on tiny little silver
grommets from sewing supplies shops.
n: yeah? i noticed you suddenly got very interested when i said i
was going to use them in making a corset for Jabberwok. i might
even be able to get rid of some of that black vinyl.
d: are you going to let your m-
p: excuse us. we're thirsty.
(pause while a 1-litre `Pepsi Max Big Slam' bottle is fetched from
the freezer. it has four centimetres of icy, half-frozen water at the
bottom; the bottle is topped up and drunk, the cold causing intense
pain in the fillings of our teeth)
d: and how long have you been listening in, Mr Natural?
p: (rasps) "we've always been here."
d: oy. still think you're a Cenobite, huh?
p: (sneers) still think you're female, huh? looked in the mirror
recently, dava?
d: okay. that's it. where's that fucking X-acto knife? i'll settle this
once and for all.
m: (bemusedly, to n) you think she'll do it?
n: (laughs) nah. she doesn't see pain the way we do. she'll press
the knife about half a millimetre into the skin and then chicken out.
remember when she wanted to impress Skud and tried to pierce
her nipple?
m: heh. it was a dance, like the Lucrezia back-and-forth two-step.
needle touches skin, retreats, touches skin, retreats -
d: (sobs) you bastards are always ganging up on me. maybe i
should just throw myself in front of a fucking bus.
m: maybe you should, dava. it would be a nice touch if you could do
it without involving us.
d: oh no. when i go, i'm taking you all with me.
n: what is it, that time of the month? dava, aren't you content with
making me feel stomach-cramping phantom period pains? you
have to do the whole hormonal roller-coaster thing as well?
d: why should i have all the fun?
p: indeed. we want to reserve next wednesday.
n: why?
d: no. i know what you want to do, and i don't think you should.
p: shut up, child; this isn't a democracy. very well. we recommend
that no-one should make any definite plans for wednesday, as we
will be assuming control as of seven thirty pm.
d: (quietly) i'll fight you for it.
p: (incredulous) you'll what?
m: oh, this'll be good. blinding headaches at ten paces.
d: i said i'll fight you for it. i'm not going to let you confuse her
any
further. you wouldn't listen to me when i said, `leave her be', would
you? you're like a child, picking at a scab until it bleeds.
p: (sneers) it's not hard to see where the poetry comes from, is it?
d: (derisiviely) what would you know? you couldn't write a poem to
save your life. that requires emotional involvement. you might have
heard of that, somewhere, but you wouldn't recognise it if someone
rammed a metric tonne of it up your ass with a fucking pile-driver.
p: (to n) it must be that time of the month again.
m: why don't we install nethack, run it and see if it tells us what
phase of the moon we're in?
n: (pause) i beg your pardon?
m: (somewhat embarassed) i mean... i thought, uh, that sort of - i
thought it was associated with the phases of the moon...
d: (rolls eyes) and you wanted to be female?
n: (to the outside world in general) and people wonder why i have
trouble dealing with reality.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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