However, to do this accurately would require it to be able to gather an incredible amount of data, which would no longer exist, and could not be reconstructed without reversing entropy. Instead, the AI could punish a simulation of the person, which it would construct by deduction from first principles. Thus this is not necessarily a straightforward "serve the AI or you will go to hell" - the AI and the person punished need have no causal interaction, and the punished individual may have died decades or centuries earlier. Why would it do this? Because - the theory goes - one of its objectives would be to prevent existential risk - but it could do that most effectively not merely by preventing existential risk in its present, but by also "reaching back" into its past to punish people who weren't MIRI-style effective altruists. The core claim is that a hypothetical, but inevitable, singular ultimate superintelligence may punish those who fail to help it or help create it. Roko's Basilisk rests on a stack of several other not at all robust propositions. “ ”If there's one thing we can deduce about the motives of future superintelligences, it's that they simulate people who talk about Roko's Basilisk and condemn them to an eternity of forum posts about Roko's Basilisk. Roko's posited solution to this quandary is to buy a lottery ticket, because you'll win in some quantum branch. While neither LessWrong nor its founder Eliezer Yudkowsky advocate the basilisk as true, they do advocate almost all of the premises that add up to it. ![]() ![]() The basilisk resembles a futurist version of Pascal's wager, in that it suggests people should weigh possible punishment versus reward and as a result accept particular singularitarian ideas or financially support their development.ĭespite widespread incredulity, this argument is taken quite seriously by some people, primarily some denizens of LessWrong. It is named after Roko Mijic, the member of the rationalist community LessWrong who first publicly described it, though he did not originate the underlying ideas. Its conclusion is that an all-powerful artificial intelligence from the future might retroactively punish those who did not help bring about its existence, including those who merely knew about the possible development of such a being. Roko's basilisk is a thought experiment about the potential risks involved in developing artificial intelligence. But I find them a nice inclusion that still lingers with me.“ ”I wish I had never learned about any of these ideas. Some readers will hate these intrusions in the chronology, learning things perhaps best left unsaid. Harlan Ellison plays his narrative as an inviting and ominous voice to pique interest. A Boy and His Dog still takes the cake in narrative voice.Įach story has an introduction that gives me Twilight Zone vibes. “Eyes of Dust” and “Big Sam Was My Friend” happen to be favorites of mine, while “Delusion for a Dragon Slayer” seems harder for me to remember.Ī colorful and flawed narrator leads in each story, adding their own spin for variety. While this will likely mean you find one that doesn’t speak to you, each haunts you in unique ways. Harlan Ellison (Author) What I LikeĮach story is a unique entry. “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes,” specifically, reads more like Fabulism or a Supernatural thriller. It is important to mention that science fiction loosely applies to the latter half of the collection. ![]() Harlan Ellison often takes on the turmoil of science fiction, casting a light of exploitation and pessimism instead of starry-eyed optimism. Each story tackles prose differently, so consistency isn’t a focus in this collection in any regard. Contained in this collection are “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” “Big Sam Was My Friend,” “Eyes of Dust,” “World of the Myth,” “Lonelyache,” “Delusion for a Dragon Slayer,” and “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes.” While most of these stories are previously published, these are the latest versions.ĭon’t expect a collection like Vic and Blood, following specific characters set in a specific world.
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