4 ms·

I wouldn't be a bit surprised should a serious religion spring up that worships the concept of a GAI, and in fact may as a part of that worship, work toward imp

by cr0sh 9y ago

I wouldn't be a bit surprised should a serious religion spring up that worships the concept of a GAI, and in fact may as a part of that worship, work toward implementing it. I am really surprised that Mentifex hasn't started such a cult himself already! /or maybe he has, and it's a cult of one member only...?

throwaway91111 9y ago
A GAI? What is that? Do you mean Gaia?
- remarkableboard 9y ago
  Maybe General AI?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- ch4s3 9y ago
  the gp means General A.I. aka Artificial general intelligence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligenc...
  - dgfgfdagasdfgfa 9y ago
    Why not just type general AI? Also, why would that be a particularly interesting worship object? I'd be curious to read some imaginative sci-fi if anyone can furnish it....
    - ionised 9y ago
      The 'General' in AGI is emphasised because it specifies the type of AI that is essentially self-aware and able to learn and reason as humans do.
      - dgfgfdagasdfgfa 9y ago
        Right, I know the term. But it's not hard to type and it's not hard to read, unlike GAI or AGI (I can't tell which) and it's hardly the only interesting concept that you can construct with those letters.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
throwanem 9y ago
That's basically Roko's basilisk, isn't it?
- Smaug123 9y ago
  That particular memetic hazard has never inspired a religion. It was a thought experiment; I don't know of anyone who admits to seriously believing in it.
bitwize 9y ago
The Venus Project comes pretty close.
kaffeemitsahne 9y ago
The LessWrong crowd has been called cultish more than once.
- Houshalter 9y ago
  Meh, only by people who consider any weird beliefs to be a cult. They are just an online forum and dont have any of the other aspects, like an isolated compound in the woods. And their beliefs have become a lot more mainstream in the past few years. At one time AI risk was pretty obscure and no one took it seriously. Now there are best selling books on it and its entered popular culture. I see it discussed seriously here all the time. That's all because of Lesswrong and Yudkowsky.
Analemma_ 9y ago
> I wouldn't be a bit surprised should a serious religion spring up that worships the concept of a GAI, and in fact may as a part of that worship, work toward implementing it. The LessWrong crowd is exactly that. They've got their own saints, demons, eschatological prophecies, and, of course, a money basket where you're encouraged to tithe generously (https://intelligence.org/donate/ https://intelligence.org/donate/)
- Smaug123 9y ago
  I think that's a bit unfair. The LessWrong-o-sphere encourages tithing in the name of effective altruism generally. It's just that MIRI considers itself to be effective for these purposes, and it argues this way (as it is naturally incentivised to do).

by cr0sh 9y ago

throwaway91111 9y ago

A GAI? What is that? Do you mean Gaia?

remarkableboard 9y ago
Maybe General AI?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
ch4s3 9y ago
the gp means General A.I. aka Artificial general intelligence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligenc...
- dgfgfdagasdfgfa 9y ago
  Why not just type general AI? Also, why would that be a particularly interesting worship object? I'd be curious to read some imaginative sci-fi if anyone can furnish it....
  - ionised 9y ago
    The 'General' in AGI is emphasised because it specifies the type of AI that is essentially self-aware and able to learn and reason as humans do.
    - dgfgfdagasdfgfa 9y ago
      Right, I know the term. But it's not hard to type and it's not hard to read, unlike GAI or AGI (I can't tell which) and it's hardly the only interesting concept that you can construct with those letters.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

throwanem 9y ago

That's basically Roko's basilisk, isn't it?

Smaug123 9y ago
That particular memetic hazard has never inspired a religion. It was a thought experiment; I don't know of anyone who admits to seriously believing in it.

bitwize 9y ago

The Venus Project comes pretty close.

kaffeemitsahne 9y ago

The LessWrong crowd has been called cultish more than once.

Houshalter 9y ago
Meh, only by people who consider any weird beliefs to be a cult. They are just an online forum and dont have any of the other aspects, like an isolated compound in the woods. And their beliefs have become a lot more mainstream in the past few years. At one time AI risk was pretty obscure and no one took it seriously. Now there are best selling books on it and its entered popular culture. I see it discussed seriously here all the time. That's all because of Lesswrong and Yudkowsky.

Analemma_ 9y ago

> I wouldn't be a bit surprised should a serious religion spring up that worships the concept of a GAI, and in fact may as a part of that worship, work toward implementing it. The LessWrong crowd is exactly that. They've got their own saints, demons, eschatological prophecies, and, of course, a money basket where you're encouraged to tithe generously (https://intelligence.org/donate/ https://intelligence.org/donate/)

Smaug123 9y ago
I think that's a bit unfair. The LessWrong-o-sphere encourages tithing in the name of effective altruism generally. It's just that MIRI considers itself to be effective for these purposes, and it argues this way (as it is naturally incentivised to do).