Goplat, can’t answer for Caledonian, but as I’m pretty sad & pathetic myself, I’ll take a stab. The unborn represent variety and potentiality. More of the same represents sterility. Sure I’d like to live 500 productive & happy years, but am in my better moments conscious that with present biotechnology this is unlikely. With SIAI improved biotechnology who knows ? However, my totally uninformed intuition is that however superproductive & longlived the ultra-new curly-wurly chromosomes that my friendly neighbourhood SIAI will give me are, they would do better (in accordance with their interest) endowing them on the young of the species. Your argument that we now are happy living 80 years where our ancestors were lucky to make 40 is pertinent, but adding years after 40 still doesn’t increase the productive lifespan of a mathematician. Jesus died at 30 (or was it 33 ?). Mother Theresa was doing productive caring work into advanced old age. So perhaps youth = creativity, age = caring. A ‘Self Improving’ AI would surely privilege the 1st option. For better or for worse. Personally I’m for balance, and am all for the increase of life expectancy at a rate which is compatible with human capacity to adapt. I wrote a piece on the Impossibility of a ‘Friendly’ SIAI which I may inflict on the world someday.
Goplat, can’t answer for Caledonian, but as I’m pretty sad & pathetic myself, I’ll take a stab. The unborn represent variety and potentiality. More of the same represents sterility. Sure I’d like to live 500 productive & happy years, but am in my better moments conscious that with present biotechnology this is unlikely. With SIAI improved biotechnology who knows ? However, my totally uninformed intuition is that however superproductive & longlived the ultra-new curly-wurly chromosomes that my friendly neighbourhood SIAI will give me are, they would do better (in accordance with their interest) endowing them on the young of the species. Your argument that we now are happy living 80 years where our ancestors were lucky to make 40 is pertinent, but adding years after 40 still doesn’t increase the productive lifespan of a mathematician. Jesus died at 30 (or was it 33 ?). Mother Theresa was doing productive caring work into advanced old age. So perhaps youth = creativity, age = caring. A ‘Self Improving’ AI would surely privilege the 1st option. For better or for worse. Personally I’m for balance, and am all for the increase of life expectancy at a rate which is compatible with human capacity to adapt. I wrote a piece on the Impossibility of a ‘Friendly’ SIAI which I may inflict on the world someday.