As you say, human beings are not superintelligent AIs of unknown friendliness.
I’m accustomed to dealing with human beings, including religious believers who are smarter than me (I’m related to a few). I think it quite likely that calcsam is smarter than me, but—and I can’t get past this—HE’S A MORMON. What on Earth could he possibly say to make that turd seem like spun gold? We’re close to two hundred years since Joseph Smith accomplished his amazing con job. In that time, there have been a lot of smart, diligent Mormons trying desperately to reconcile their faith with reality. They have come up with nothing, except that the mainstream has backtracked from some of the more painfully horrible aspects of their sect, like polygamy and racism. But it was a con and a lie from the beginning, and nothing will change that. Calcsam would have to have thought of some thing really, really new—something like the equivalent of a cold fusion reactor in his garage—to change my mind. I didn’t know about his blog at the time, but now it’s quite obvious he has nothing new at all.
In the unlikely event that I am ever put in the position of being the liason between humanity and a real superintelligent AI in a box, I would be terrified. People don’t scare me so much.
As you say, human beings are not superintelligent AIs of unknown friendliness.
I’m accustomed to dealing with human beings, including religious believers who are smarter than me (I’m related to a few). I think it quite likely that calcsam is smarter than me, but—and I can’t get past this—HE’S A MORMON. What on Earth could he possibly say to make that turd seem like spun gold? We’re close to two hundred years since Joseph Smith accomplished his amazing con job. In that time, there have been a lot of smart, diligent Mormons trying desperately to reconcile their faith with reality. They have come up with nothing, except that the mainstream has backtracked from some of the more painfully horrible aspects of their sect, like polygamy and racism. But it was a con and a lie from the beginning, and nothing will change that. Calcsam would have to have thought of some thing really, really new—something like the equivalent of a cold fusion reactor in his garage—to change my mind. I didn’t know about his blog at the time, but now it’s quite obvious he has nothing new at all.
In the unlikely event that I am ever put in the position of being the liason between humanity and a real superintelligent AI in a box, I would be terrified. People don’t scare me so much.