I agree that we might not be disgusting to AGI. More likely neutral.
The reason I phrased the thought experiment in that way to require the helping person to be outright disgusting to the caretaker person is that there really isn’t a way for a human being to be aesthetically/emotionally neutral to another person when life and death are on the line. Most people flip straight from regarding other people positively in such a situation to regarding other people negatively, with not much likelihood that a human being will linger in a neutral, apathetic, disinterested zone of attitude (unless we are talking about a stone-cold sociopath, I suppose...but I’m trying to imagine typical, randomly-chosen humans here as the caretaker).
And in order to remove any positive emotional valence towards the helpless person (i.e. in order to make sure the helpless person has zero positive emotional/aesthetic impact that they can offer to the caretaker as an extrinsic motivator), I only know of heaping negative aesthetic/emotional valence onto the helpless person. Perhaps there is a better way of construing this thought-experiment, though. I’m open to alternatives.
I agree that we might not be disgusting to AGI. More likely neutral.
The reason I phrased the thought experiment in that way to require the helping person to be outright disgusting to the caretaker person is that there really isn’t a way for a human being to be aesthetically/emotionally neutral to another person when life and death are on the line. Most people flip straight from regarding other people positively in such a situation to regarding other people negatively, with not much likelihood that a human being will linger in a neutral, apathetic, disinterested zone of attitude (unless we are talking about a stone-cold sociopath, I suppose...but I’m trying to imagine typical, randomly-chosen humans here as the caretaker).
And in order to remove any positive emotional valence towards the helpless person (i.e. in order to make sure the helpless person has zero positive emotional/aesthetic impact that they can offer to the caretaker as an extrinsic motivator), I only know of heaping negative aesthetic/emotional valence onto the helpless person. Perhaps there is a better way of construing this thought-experiment, though. I’m open to alternatives.