The problem is that the suspicions don’t necessarily need to be refuted… only explained. A super-intelligent AI is a bit of a god to human eyes, or at least a demi-god. I’ve said before that half the point of SIAI is to make sure that we create a god we like, and I wasn’t really joking (I’m pretty sure I was quoting someone else as well). Likewise, I’m signed up for cryonics specifically because I don’t like death, and would prefer to escape it if possible.
So I couldn’t honestly refute either accusation, only admit to them and then either brush it off with “it’s my crazy thing, we all have our pet crazy thing, right?” if I don’t believe getting into the topic will be fruitful with that particular person, or to explain how this is different from superstition and try to reduce the inferential gap.
The problem is that the suspicions don’t necessarily need to be refuted… only explained. A super-intelligent AI is a bit of a god to human eyes, or at least a demi-god. I’ve said before that half the point of SIAI is to make sure that we create a god we like, and I wasn’t really joking (I’m pretty sure I was quoting someone else as well). Likewise, I’m signed up for cryonics specifically because I don’t like death, and would prefer to escape it if possible.
So I couldn’t honestly refute either accusation, only admit to them and then either brush it off with “it’s my crazy thing, we all have our pet crazy thing, right?” if I don’t believe getting into the topic will be fruitful with that particular person, or to explain how this is different from superstition and try to reduce the inferential gap.