I think optimizing anything is always immoral, exactly because it means imposing things that you should not be imposing. It is also the behavior of a fanatic, not a normal human being; that is the whole reason for the belief that AIs would destroy the world, namely because of the belief that they would behave like fanatics instead of like intelligent beings.
In the case of the slave owning race, I am quite sure that slavery is not consistent with their fundamental values, even if they are practicing it for a certain time. I don’t admit that values are arbitrary, and consequently you cannot assume (at least without first proving me wrong about this) that any arbitrary value could be a fundamental value for something.
Well now I see we disagree at a much more fundamental level.
There is nothing inherently sinister about “optimization”. Humans are optimizers in a sense, manipulating the world to be more like how we want it to be. We build sophisticated technology and industries that are many steps removed from our various end goals. We dam rivers, and build roads, and convert deserts into sprawling cities. We convert the resources of the world into the things we want. That’s just what humans do, that’s probably what most intelligent beings do.
The definition of FAI, to me, is something that continues that process, but improves it. Takes over from us, and continues to run the world for human ends. Makes our technologies better and our industries more efficient, and solves our various conflicts. The best FAI is one that constructs a utopia for humans.
I don’t know why you believe a slave owning race is impossible. Humans of course practiced slavery in many different cultures. It’s very easy for even humans to not care about the suffering of other groups. And even if you do believe most humans could be convinced it’s wrong (I’m not so sure), there are actual sociopaths that don’t experience empathy at all.
Humans also have plenty of sinister values, and I can easily believe aliens could exist that are far worse. Evolution tended to evolve humans that cooperate and have empathy. But under different conditions, we could have evolved completely differently. There is no law of the universe that says beings have to have values like us.
“Well now I see we disagree at a much more fundamental level.” Yes. I’ve been saying that since the beginning of this conversation.
If humans are optimizers, they must be optimizing for something. Now suppose someone comes to you and says, “do you agree to turn on this CEV machine?”, when you respond, are you optimizing for the thing or not? If you say yes, and you are optimizing the original thing, then the CEV cannot (as far as you know) be compromising the thing you were optimizing for. If you say yes and are not optimizing for it, then you are not an optimizer. So you must agree with me on at least one point: either 1) you are not an optimizer, or 2) you should not agree with CEV if it compromises your personal values in any way. I maintain both of those, but you must maintain at least one of them.
In earlier posts I have explained why it is not possible that you are really an optimizer (not during this particular discussion.) People here tend to neglect the fact that an intelligent thing has a body. So e.g. Eliezer believes that an AI is an algorithm, and nothing else. But in fact an AI has a body just as much as we do. And those bodies have various tendencies, and they do not collectively add up to optimizing for anything, except in an abstract sense in which everything is an optimizer, like a rock is an optimizer, and so on.
“We convert the resources of the world into the things we want.” To some extent, but not infinitely, in a fanatical way. Again, that is the whole worry about AI—that it might do that fanatically. We don’t.
I understand you think that some creatures could have fundamental values that are perverse from your point of view. This is because you, like Eliezer, think that values are intrinsically arbitrary. I don’t, and I have said so from the beginning. It might be true that slave owning values could be fundamental in some exterrestrial race, but if they were, slavery in that race would be very, very different from slavery in the human race, and there would be no reason to oppose it in that race. In fact, you could say that slavery exists in a fundamental way in the human race, and there is no reason to oppose it: parents can tell their kids to stay out of the road, and they have to obey them, whether they want to or not. Note that this is very, very different from the kind of slavery you are concerned about, and there is no reason to oppose the real kind.
I can still think the CEV machine is better than whatever the alternative is (for instance, no AI at all.) But yes, in theory, you should prefer to make AIs that have your own values and not bother with CEV.
Having a body is irrelevant. Bodies are just one way to manipulate the world to optimize your goals.
“We convert the resources of the world into the things we want.” To some extent, but not infinitely, in a fanatical way. Again, that is the whole worry about AI—that it might do that fanatically. We don’t.
What do you mean by “fanatically”? This is a pretty vague word. Humans would sure seem fanatical to other animals. We’ve cut down entire continent sized forests, drained massive lakes, and built billions of complex structures.
The only reason we haven’t “optimized” the Earth further, is because of physical and economic limits. If we could we probably would.
Whether you call that “optimization” or not, is mostly irrelevant. If superintelligent AIs acted similarly, humans would be screwed.
I’m deeply concerned that you are theoretically ok with slave owning aliens. If the slaves are ok with it, then perhaps it could be justified. But if they strongly object to it, and suffer from it, and don’t get any benefit from it, then it’s just obviously wrong.
“Having a body is irrelevant. Bodies are just one way to manipulate the world to optimize your goals.”
This is not true. Bodies are physical objects that follow the laws of physics, and the laws of physics are not “just one way to manipulate the world to optimize your goals,” because the laws have nothing to do with your goals. For example, we often don’t keep doing something because we are tired, not because we have a goal of not continuing. AIs will be quite capable of doing the same thing, as for example if thinking too hard about something begins to weaken its circuits.
What I mean by fanatically is trying to optimize for a single goal as though it were the only thing that mattered. We do not do that, nor does anything else with a body, nor is it even possible, for the above reason.
Yes you should be concerned about what I said about slaves and aliens, as it suggests that the CEV machine might result in things that you consider utterly wicked. I said that from the beginning, when you claimed that it would eliminate all negative results, obviously intending that to mean from your subjective point of view.
I think optimizing anything is always immoral, exactly because it means imposing things that you should not be imposing. It is also the behavior of a fanatic, not a normal human being; that is the whole reason for the belief that AIs would destroy the world, namely because of the belief that they would behave like fanatics instead of like intelligent beings.
In the case of the slave owning race, I am quite sure that slavery is not consistent with their fundamental values, even if they are practicing it for a certain time. I don’t admit that values are arbitrary, and consequently you cannot assume (at least without first proving me wrong about this) that any arbitrary value could be a fundamental value for something.
Well now I see we disagree at a much more fundamental level.
There is nothing inherently sinister about “optimization”. Humans are optimizers in a sense, manipulating the world to be more like how we want it to be. We build sophisticated technology and industries that are many steps removed from our various end goals. We dam rivers, and build roads, and convert deserts into sprawling cities. We convert the resources of the world into the things we want. That’s just what humans do, that’s probably what most intelligent beings do.
The definition of FAI, to me, is something that continues that process, but improves it. Takes over from us, and continues to run the world for human ends. Makes our technologies better and our industries more efficient, and solves our various conflicts. The best FAI is one that constructs a utopia for humans.
I don’t know why you believe a slave owning race is impossible. Humans of course practiced slavery in many different cultures. It’s very easy for even humans to not care about the suffering of other groups. And even if you do believe most humans could be convinced it’s wrong (I’m not so sure), there are actual sociopaths that don’t experience empathy at all.
Humans also have plenty of sinister values, and I can easily believe aliens could exist that are far worse. Evolution tended to evolve humans that cooperate and have empathy. But under different conditions, we could have evolved completely differently. There is no law of the universe that says beings have to have values like us.
“Well now I see we disagree at a much more fundamental level.” Yes. I’ve been saying that since the beginning of this conversation.
If humans are optimizers, they must be optimizing for something. Now suppose someone comes to you and says, “do you agree to turn on this CEV machine?”, when you respond, are you optimizing for the thing or not? If you say yes, and you are optimizing the original thing, then the CEV cannot (as far as you know) be compromising the thing you were optimizing for. If you say yes and are not optimizing for it, then you are not an optimizer. So you must agree with me on at least one point: either 1) you are not an optimizer, or 2) you should not agree with CEV if it compromises your personal values in any way. I maintain both of those, but you must maintain at least one of them.
In earlier posts I have explained why it is not possible that you are really an optimizer (not during this particular discussion.) People here tend to neglect the fact that an intelligent thing has a body. So e.g. Eliezer believes that an AI is an algorithm, and nothing else. But in fact an AI has a body just as much as we do. And those bodies have various tendencies, and they do not collectively add up to optimizing for anything, except in an abstract sense in which everything is an optimizer, like a rock is an optimizer, and so on.
“We convert the resources of the world into the things we want.” To some extent, but not infinitely, in a fanatical way. Again, that is the whole worry about AI—that it might do that fanatically. We don’t.
I understand you think that some creatures could have fundamental values that are perverse from your point of view. This is because you, like Eliezer, think that values are intrinsically arbitrary. I don’t, and I have said so from the beginning. It might be true that slave owning values could be fundamental in some exterrestrial race, but if they were, slavery in that race would be very, very different from slavery in the human race, and there would be no reason to oppose it in that race. In fact, you could say that slavery exists in a fundamental way in the human race, and there is no reason to oppose it: parents can tell their kids to stay out of the road, and they have to obey them, whether they want to or not. Note that this is very, very different from the kind of slavery you are concerned about, and there is no reason to oppose the real kind.
I can still think the CEV machine is better than whatever the alternative is (for instance, no AI at all.) But yes, in theory, you should prefer to make AIs that have your own values and not bother with CEV.
Having a body is irrelevant. Bodies are just one way to manipulate the world to optimize your goals.
What do you mean by “fanatically”? This is a pretty vague word. Humans would sure seem fanatical to other animals. We’ve cut down entire continent sized forests, drained massive lakes, and built billions of complex structures.
The only reason we haven’t “optimized” the Earth further, is because of physical and economic limits. If we could we probably would.
Whether you call that “optimization” or not, is mostly irrelevant. If superintelligent AIs acted similarly, humans would be screwed.
I’m deeply concerned that you are theoretically ok with slave owning aliens. If the slaves are ok with it, then perhaps it could be justified. But if they strongly object to it, and suffer from it, and don’t get any benefit from it, then it’s just obviously wrong.
“Having a body is irrelevant. Bodies are just one way to manipulate the world to optimize your goals.”
This is not true. Bodies are physical objects that follow the laws of physics, and the laws of physics are not “just one way to manipulate the world to optimize your goals,” because the laws have nothing to do with your goals. For example, we often don’t keep doing something because we are tired, not because we have a goal of not continuing. AIs will be quite capable of doing the same thing, as for example if thinking too hard about something begins to weaken its circuits.
What I mean by fanatically is trying to optimize for a single goal as though it were the only thing that mattered. We do not do that, nor does anything else with a body, nor is it even possible, for the above reason.
Yes you should be concerned about what I said about slaves and aliens, as it suggests that the CEV machine might result in things that you consider utterly wicked. I said that from the beginning, when you claimed that it would eliminate all negative results, obviously intending that to mean from your subjective point of view.