From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Wed Feb 06 2002 - 03:10:30 MST
Olga Bourlin wrote:
>
> Yeah, you may be right. In any case, it's not gospel. The quote reminded
> me, though, of an oh-so-elegant party in the '80s. I sidled up to a group
> of people when I heard them talking about China (having been born there,
> I've a particular interest in China). Then, to my dismay, I realized they
> were talking about ... China ... **patterns.** Patterns ... crockery!
> Another group talked excitedly about "zins" (I soon figured out that was a
> diminutive name for Zinfandel wines). Maybe it's just the parties I've
> attended ... it seems the more "elegant," the more boring they've been,
> generally speaking. And I don't know why.
Or possibly the complexity was out of sight. The discussion of chinaware
may have been replete with subtle tones of voice and inflection, patterns
of who dares to disagree with who - an exciting power struggle,
steganographically encrypted using the chinaware discussion as a carrier.
On second thought, nah.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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