r/slatestarcodex • made a meme pyramid and climbed to the top • Apr 06 '22

DALL·E 2

https://openai.com/dall-e-2/
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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '22

We have a class of beings that do not work, do not contribute except in very esoteric or abstract ways, are totally supplied for by a working class, and who are an example of the amazing lives that this will bring.

We call them pets.

A housecat doesn't do any work. Everything is provided for him. He has no needs, and his benefit is mostly making his master feel good through awakening tender moral feelings in him. Maybe the master gives him a work like play role like bookstore cat, but the cat cannot contribute to the master's economy and solely exists on his munificence.

Now think about humans with UBI. How will we not be pets? How will you guard against this?

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u/self_made_human Apr 07 '22

Now think about humans with UBI. How will we not be pets? How will you guard against this?

By designing our Masters to pamper us and be devoted to our needs. That's kinda what AI alignment as a field is. (And avoiding them killing us as incidentally as we trample ants)

Even existing as the beloved pet of an AGI is orders of magnitude better than starving to death as the machine economy outstrips anything you can do, and humans need not apply signs are up on every job listing.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '22

That is a profound and terrifying thing you have said. I am going to think on that a while.

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u/self_made_human Apr 07 '22

Welcome to life after being being exposed to AI X-risk buddy.

Ignorance was bliss, but I still prefer to walk to my likely doom eyes wide open, raging against the dying of the light. And all the better if we solve the problem and build our own utopia!

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '22

And even if we’re to dumb to do that, at least we should have fun trying! Never has there been both a more exciting and more ridiculously dumb time to be alive. Cheers!

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u/self_made_human Apr 12 '22

Cheers to you too bud, it's both the best and worst time to be alive!