If you take the economic perspective (such as I understand R. Hanson’s version to be), the only simulations we will ever run at scale are those that generate profits.
Torture is a money-sink with no economic value other than blackmail.
So torture in simulations will necessarily be marginalized (esp. so if humanity becomes better at pre-commitment to not respond to blackmail).
As stated in a separate comment, the human mind runs at 20W, so that’s probably a reasonable design goal for the power consumption of an emulation. Keeping a few copies of minds around for torture will eventually be a cheap luxury, comparable to leaving a lightbulb on.
If you take the economic perspective (such as I understand R. Hanson’s version to be), the only simulations we will ever run at scale are those that generate profits.
Torture is a money-sink with no economic value other than blackmail.
So torture in simulations will necessarily be marginalized (esp. so if humanity becomes better at pre-commitment to not respond to blackmail).
As stated in a separate comment, the human mind runs at 20W, so that’s probably a reasonable design goal for the power consumption of an emulation. Keeping a few copies of minds around for torture will eventually be a cheap luxury, comparable to leaving a lightbulb on.