Some humans learn some altruism. The average amount of altruism learned by humans would end up with all of us dead if altruism occupied the same sort of level within a superintelligent AI’s preferences.
Most humans would not think twice about killing most nonhuman species. Picking an animal species at random from a big list I get “Helophorus Sibiricus”, a species of beetle (there sure are a lot of species of beetle). Any given person might not have any particular antipathy toward such beetles, and might even have some abstract notion that causing their extinction might be a bad thing. Put a nest of them in the way of anything they care about though, and they’ll probably exterminate them. Some few people in modern times might go as far as checking whether they’re endangered first, but most won’t.
From the point of view of a powerful AI, Earth is infested with many nests of humans that could do damage to important things. At the very least it makes sense to permanently neuter their ability to do that.
From the point of view of a powerful AI, Earth is infested with many nests of humans that could do damage to important things. At the very least it makes sense to permanently neuter their ability to do that.
That’s a positive outcome, as long as said humans aren’t unduly harmed, and “doing damage to important things” doesn’t include say, eating plants or scaring bunnies by walking by them.
Some humans learn some altruism. The average amount of altruism learned by humans would end up with all of us dead if altruism occupied the same sort of level within a superintelligent AI’s preferences.
Most humans would not think twice about killing most nonhuman species. Picking an animal species at random from a big list I get “Helophorus Sibiricus”, a species of beetle (there sure are a lot of species of beetle). Any given person might not have any particular antipathy toward such beetles, and might even have some abstract notion that causing their extinction might be a bad thing. Put a nest of them in the way of anything they care about though, and they’ll probably exterminate them. Some few people in modern times might go as far as checking whether they’re endangered first, but most won’t.
From the point of view of a powerful AI, Earth is infested with many nests of humans that could do damage to important things. At the very least it makes sense to permanently neuter their ability to do that.
That’s a positive outcome, as long as said humans aren’t unduly harmed, and “doing damage to important things” doesn’t include say, eating plants or scaring bunnies by walking by them.