I think you have misunderstood the genre of some of the conversations you’ve been having. Wireheading is a philosophical thought experiment, not a policy proposal. Getting angry and calling it a “criminal proposal” implies a significant misunderstanding of what is being talked about and what kind of conversation is being had.
Combining this with references to an in-person conversation where it isn’t clear what was said, and links to a few posts that don’t quite match the thing you’re responding to, makes this whole post very confusing. I don’t think I could discuss the topic at the object level without quite a few rounds of clarification first.
If wireheading were a serious policy proposal being actively pursued with non-negligible chances of success, I would be shooting to kill wireheaders, not arguing with them.
I am arguing precisely because Jeff and other people musing about wireheading are not actual criminals—but might inspire a future criminal AI if their argument is accepted.
Arguing about a thought experiment means taking it seriously, which I do. And if the conclusion is criminal, this is an important point that needs to be stated. When George Bernard Shaw calmly claims the political necessity of large scale extermination of people unfit for his socialist paradise, and doing it scientifically, he is not being a criminal—but it is extremely relevant to note that his ideas, if implemented, would be criminal, and that accepting them as true might indeed inspire criminals to act, and inspire good people to let criminals act.
If I am not to take wireheading seriously, there is nothing to argue. Just a good laugh to have.
And I am not angry at all about wireheading. But apparently, the first post of this series made a lot of commenters angry indeed who took it personally.
I think you have misunderstood the genre of some of the conversations you’ve been having. Wireheading is a philosophical thought experiment, not a policy proposal. Getting angry and calling it a “criminal proposal” implies a significant misunderstanding of what is being talked about and what kind of conversation is being had.
Combining this with references to an in-person conversation where it isn’t clear what was said, and links to a few posts that don’t quite match the thing you’re responding to, makes this whole post very confusing. I don’t think I could discuss the topic at the object level without quite a few rounds of clarification first.
If wireheading were a serious policy proposal being actively pursued with non-negligible chances of success, I would be shooting to kill wireheaders, not arguing with them.
I am arguing precisely because Jeff and other people musing about wireheading are not actual criminals—but might inspire a future criminal AI if their argument is accepted.
Arguing about a thought experiment means taking it seriously, which I do. And if the conclusion is criminal, this is an important point that needs to be stated. When George Bernard Shaw calmly claims the political necessity of large scale extermination of people unfit for his socialist paradise, and doing it scientifically, he is not being a criminal—but it is extremely relevant to note that his ideas, if implemented, would be criminal, and that accepting them as true might indeed inspire criminals to act, and inspire good people to let criminals act.
If I am not to take wireheading seriously, there is nothing to argue. Just a good laugh to have.
And I am not angry at all about wireheading. But apparently, the first post of this series made a lot of commenters angry indeed who took it personally.