As such, if you observe yourself to be in a culture that is able to reach technologically maturity, you’re probably “the stupidest such culture that could get there, because if it could be done at a stupider level then it would’ve happened there first.”
Who first observed this? I say this a lot, but I’m now not sure if I first thought of it or if I’m just quoting well-understood folklore.
Who first observed this? I say this a lot, but I’m now not sure if I first thought of it or if I’m just quoting well-understood folklore.
For me, I’m pretty sure it was Yudkowsky (but maybe Bostrom) who put it pithily enough that I remembered. Would have to look for a cite.