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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   3236 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 17, 2025

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But is there no difference to you between actively creating these beings vs letting them be if they happened to come to exist on their own?

A minor difference, but nothing to lose sleep over. At the end of the day, I see it as a moot point, we're unlikely to be creating clades of human mentats when AI is here.

I would submit the possibility that in order for a system to have the capacity for general intelligence, it must also have the capacity for suffering, boredom, desire, etc. We don't have to give it if it emerges on its own.

It seems clear to me that this is unlikely to be true. If you give a human meth, they're not going to be bored by much. Even without drugs, plenty of people who meditate claim to have overcome suffering or desire. If that state exists, it can be engineered. I see no reason why we can't make it so that AI - if it has qualia - enjoys being a helpful assistant. We have altruistic/charitable people around today, who still aim to be helpful even when it causes them a great deal of physical or mental discomfort.

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