Eh, it’s not sure that we would be disgusting to such human-like AGI, many people like dogs, and some people even like things like snakes (I consider snakes to be disgusting animals, but that’s not universal opinion).
Also, cost of living together with ugly, ill and useless person on a deserted island, would be high. Hopefully cost for AGI (cost needed to throw us ball of computronium) would be more comparable to feeding a stray cat (or even like keeping octopus alive when you are rich and own aquarium).
I agree that we might not be disgusting to AGI. More likely neutral.
The reason I phrased the thought experiment in that way to require the helping person to be outright disgusting to the caretaker person is that there really isn’t a way for a human being to be aesthetically/emotionally neutral to another person when life and death are on the line. Most people flip straight from regarding other people positively in such a situation to regarding other people negatively, with not much likelihood that a human being will linger in a neutral, apathetic, disinterested zone of attitude (unless we are talking about a stone-cold sociopath, I suppose...but I’m trying to imagine typical, randomly-chosen humans here as the caretaker).
And in order to remove any positive emotional valence towards the helpless person (i.e. in order to make sure the helpless person has zero positive emotional/aesthetic impact that they can offer to the caretaker as an extrinsic motivator), I only know of heaping negative aesthetic/emotional valence onto the helpless person. Perhaps there is a better way of construing this thought-experiment, though. I’m open to alternatives.
Eh, it’s not sure that we would be disgusting to such human-like AGI, many people like dogs, and some people even like things like snakes (I consider snakes to be disgusting animals, but that’s not universal opinion).
Also, cost of living together with ugly, ill and useless person on a deserted island, would be high. Hopefully cost for AGI (cost needed to throw us ball of computronium) would be more comparable to feeding a stray cat (or even like keeping octopus alive when you are rich and own aquarium).
I agree that we might not be disgusting to AGI. More likely neutral.
The reason I phrased the thought experiment in that way to require the helping person to be outright disgusting to the caretaker person is that there really isn’t a way for a human being to be aesthetically/emotionally neutral to another person when life and death are on the line. Most people flip straight from regarding other people positively in such a situation to regarding other people negatively, with not much likelihood that a human being will linger in a neutral, apathetic, disinterested zone of attitude (unless we are talking about a stone-cold sociopath, I suppose...but I’m trying to imagine typical, randomly-chosen humans here as the caretaker).
And in order to remove any positive emotional valence towards the helpless person (i.e. in order to make sure the helpless person has zero positive emotional/aesthetic impact that they can offer to the caretaker as an extrinsic motivator), I only know of heaping negative aesthetic/emotional valence onto the helpless person. Perhaps there is a better way of construing this thought-experiment, though. I’m open to alternatives.