The bit where Eliezer isn’t a character in a novel.
Sure UFAI pattern-matches to the Dune jihad better than anything in HPMoR, but even then Eliezer isn’t acting like Paul at all. A Muad-dib!Eliezer would be working feverishly in the basement of the fortified SIAI bunker (which would actually be a cult) to put together an “at-least-it-isn’t-paperclips-forever” AI before the US government finds his location and drops a bunker buster on him. Right about now we would have tense negotiations with national entities grimly ending in Eliezer pressing the On switch.
This sounds nothing like what is actually happening, does it?
Well, no. (Hopefully not. Not as far as I know, anyway.)
The point I was making was less about the similarities to Dune (which I shamefully have only a vague knowledge of) and more about this assertion:
I think Harry’s ethics are actually not too far from EY’s
Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres’ morality is to Eliezer Yudkowsky’s morality as Paul Muad-dib Atreides’ is to Frank Herbert’s.
Cause see, the thing is, Harry isn’t working feverishly in a bunker, either. I guess the question is: what do you think Eliezer would do differently in Harry’s situation?
Edit: I’ve just realized I anchored onto the wrong part of that analogy. It may actually be fair to describe Harry’s recent approach as leaning towards “tense negotiations with national entities grimly ending in … pressing the On switch.” Um. So.
I’m not going to retract, but I think I’ve got more of an appreciation for your point of view, now.
For the life of me, I can’t find it—but there is a comment from EY about HJPEV’s actions (appearing suboptimal in some commentor’s view because he was busy winning a school wargames competition instead of Transfiguring more carbon nanotubes and building supercomputers and space elevators) to the sarcastic effect of “It’s almost as if he’s not me!”.
This is what prompted me to compare Eliezer’s HJPEV to another author’s “supposed-avatar-but-actually-the-author-is-smarter-than-that” character.
The bit where Eliezer isn’t a character in a novel.
Sure UFAI pattern-matches to the Dune jihad better than anything in HPMoR, but even then Eliezer isn’t acting like Paul at all. A Muad-dib!Eliezer would be working feverishly in the basement of the fortified SIAI bunker (which would actually be a cult) to put together an “at-least-it-isn’t-paperclips-forever” AI before the US government finds his location and drops a bunker buster on him. Right about now we would have tense negotiations with national entities grimly ending in Eliezer pressing the On switch.
This sounds nothing like what is actually happening, does it?
Well, no. (Hopefully not. Not as far as I know, anyway.)
The point I was making was less about the similarities to Dune (which I shamefully have only a vague knowledge of) and more about this assertion:
Cause see, the thing is, Harry isn’t working feverishly in a bunker, either. I guess the question is: what do you think Eliezer would do differently in Harry’s situation?
Edit: I’ve just realized I anchored onto the wrong part of that analogy. It may actually be fair to describe Harry’s recent approach as leaning towards “tense negotiations with national entities grimly ending in … pressing the On switch.” Um. So.
I’m not going to retract, but I think I’ve got more of an appreciation for your point of view, now.
For the life of me, I can’t find it—but there is a comment from EY about HJPEV’s actions (appearing suboptimal in some commentor’s view because he was busy winning a school wargames competition instead of Transfiguring more carbon nanotubes and building supercomputers and space elevators) to the sarcastic effect of “It’s almost as if he’s not me!”.
This is what prompted me to compare Eliezer’s HJPEV to another author’s “supposed-avatar-but-actually-the-author-is-smarter-than-that” character.