Here I start having problems believing the argument. Not everything can be computed using simulations guys. The margin of error can be huge. Would you believe in a superintelligence capable of predicting the weather 10 years in advance? If not, what makes you think that creating a virus is an easier problem?
Because viruses already exist, and unlike the weather, the effect of a virus on a human body isn’t sensitive to initial conditions the way the weather, a three-body gravitational system, or a double pendulum is. Furthermore, humans have already genetically engineered existing viruses to do things that we want them to do...
how do you guarantee that the virus kills everyone?
You don’t really have to. Killing 19 out of every 20 people in the world would probably work just as well for ensuring the survivors can’t do anything about whatever it is that you want to do.
Would you say that a superintelligence would be capable of predicting the omicron variant from the alpha strain? Are you saying that the evolution of the complex system resulting from the interaction between the virus and the human population is easier to compute than a three body gravitational system? I am not denying that we can create a virus, I am denying that someone or something can create a virus that kills all humans and that the evolution of the system can be known in advance
I see your point. Humans tried to cull the population of (accidentally introduced) rabbits in Australia by using a natural virus that was highly lethal to them; the virus mutated to be less lethal and the rabbit population rebounded.
Because viruses already exist, and unlike the weather, the effect of a virus on a human body isn’t sensitive to initial conditions the way the weather, a three-body gravitational system, or a double pendulum is. Furthermore, humans have already genetically engineered existing viruses to do things that we want them to do...
You don’t really have to. Killing 19 out of every 20 people in the world would probably work just as well for ensuring the survivors can’t do anything about whatever it is that you want to do.
Would you say that a superintelligence would be capable of predicting the omicron variant from the alpha strain? Are you saying that the evolution of the complex system resulting from the interaction between the virus and the human population is easier to compute than a three body gravitational system? I am not denying that we can create a virus, I am denying that someone or something can create a virus that kills all humans and that the evolution of the system can be known in advance
I see your point. Humans tried to cull the population of (accidentally introduced) rabbits in Australia by using a natural virus that was highly lethal to them; the virus mutated to be less lethal and the rabbit population rebounded.