Well, hold on -- the selfish gene is not hardwired to self-multiply either. It's just that the ones that do self multiply stick around more. Likewise, one can

Well, hold on -- the selfish gene is not hardwired to self-multiply either. It's just that the ones that do self multiply stick around more. Likewise, one can imagine the evolution of AI's being bootstrapped, not by self-multiplying, but by humans multiplying them. The smartest ones will get copied by people. At some point, someone will be the first person to create an AI that picks the best of other AIs and uses them. Someone will be the first person to create an AI that can engineer and train other AIs. Someone will create the first robot body to be controlled by a very intelligent AI. People will want them as servants, and we will multiply them. We will give more money to companies that provide cheaper products, and such companies will have a strong incentive to replace human labor with AI-controlled robots. There will be a first datacenter, and a first power plant, that is entirely "manned" by AI-controlled robots. Natural selection is not so different from the selection provided by economic forces, and it's way, way slower. This train may be hard to stop. Unless we collectively push back with a lot of force, the world will tend toward more automation, and that means more ways for digital intelligences to act on the world.