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We could restrict the astronaut to using Morse code, and have literally no other data link back to Earth. The astronaut can be immobilized except for one finger
by IntronExon 9y ago
We could restrict the astronaut to using Morse code, and have literally no other data link back to Earth. The astronaut can be immobilized except for one finger used to key the Morse code. The ship can be little more than a ballistic missile set to run a set number of orbits before burning in the atmosphere. There is no way out of that box, even if we want to let it out.
- adrianN 9y agoThings like artificial intelligences can be transferred via Morse code.
- IntronExon 9y agoYes, but not through whatever a human can tap out in a relatively short period of time. Besides, you don’t need to receive the signal a computer, just a speaker and a guy with a pen and paper.
- sbierwagen 9y agoThere's no way for you to get the astronaut out of the box. But consider a hostile, superhuman AI. Who knows what it can do? But more to the point, who knows what it can convince the astronaut to do? Can it convince the astronaut to transmit a hostile message back to Earth, suborning the receiving computer, and thereby letting the AI out of the box? In the AI alignment field, this is called the "value drift" problem.
- IntronExon 9y agoThere's no way for you to get the astronaut out of the box. I may have been unclear: the astronaut is never intended to leave the box, he burns with the box. The astronaut is paralyzed save for his tapping finger, and on a doomed one way trip.
- sbierwagen 9y agoYes, I understood. The problem is that you can't depend on the astronaut to stay on your side. Either the AI can convince them that the AI can save their life only if they let it out of the box, or it can convince them that, since they will die anyway, they might as well let the AI out of the box.