I don’t think Alicorn’s evidence is completely fictional. It’s a simulation. It’s not as much evidence as if she had experienced it in real life, but it’s much better than, e.g. the evidence of Terminator on future AIs.
This is a distinction without a difference. “Terminator” is a simulation—the writers didn’t make it up out of nothing. Granted, their purpose is to tell an entertaining story, but the idea that this is what future AIs would be like has been around for a long time, despite Asimov’s efforts to create a framework for telling stories of friendly robots.
Or to put it the other way round, Alicorn’s scenario is as fictional as “Terminator”. It is made out of plausible-sounding elements, as Terminator is, but the “clearly” and “must” and “everybody else but me” are signs that far too much belief is being placed in it.
I don’t think Alicorn’s evidence is completely fictional. It’s a simulation. It’s not as much evidence as if she had experienced it in real life, but it’s much better than, e.g. the evidence of Terminator on future AIs.
This is a distinction without a difference. “Terminator” is a simulation—the writers didn’t make it up out of nothing. Granted, their purpose is to tell an entertaining story, but the idea that this is what future AIs would be like has been around for a long time, despite Asimov’s efforts to create a framework for telling stories of friendly robots.
Or to put it the other way round, Alicorn’s scenario is as fictional as “Terminator”. It is made out of plausible-sounding elements, as Terminator is, but the “clearly” and “must” and “everybody else but me” are signs that far too much belief is being placed in it.