From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Wed Mar 17 1999 - 08:44:38 MST
"J. R. Molloy" wrote:
>
> Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote,
> >Dear J.R. Molloy: I'm more talented and gifted than you are. Please
> >shoot yourself.
>
> That makes you sound neither talented nor gifted, but rather childish and
> self-absorbed.
Ah. I see that once again I have forgotten:
CLOSE CAPTIONED FOR THE HUMOR IMPAIRED:
"Dear J.R. Molloy: I'm more talented and gifted than you are."
THIS IS NOT INTENDED AS AN INDEPENDENT STATEMENT. YOU CAN TELL BECAUSE
IT MIRRORS THE FORM OF A PREVIOUS STATEMENT YOU MADE. THIS IS A CLUE TO
WHAT WE CALL **SARCASM**.
"Please shoot yourself."
SINCE NOBODY WOULD ACTUALLY CARRY OUT THIS COMMAND, IT'S INTENDED TO
POINT OUT A LOGICAL CONSEQUENCE RATHER THAN AN IMPERATIVE. THE USE OF
REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM IS ANOTHER CLUE TO WHAT WE CALL **SARCASM**.
> You can't destroy information, you can only change it into other forms of
> information or disinformation. A "precaution" against destroying information
> seems simple indeed.
Oh, good. Can I have the Library of Alexandria back?
SINCE YOU CAN'T GIVE IT TO ME, THIS IS MEANT AS A COMMENTARY ON THE
PREVIOUS STATEMENT, NOT AS A REQUEST. MAKING AN IMPOSSIBLE REQUEST MAY
INDICATE THE PRESENCE OF WHAT WE CALL **SARCASM**.
--
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.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:03:19 MST