If your thinking process has a form like “This would be best for me, but that wouldn’t really be fair to this other person”, the CEV can focus in on the “but that wouldn’t really be fair to this other person”. Even better, it can ask the question “Is it fair to that other person”, and figure out what your honest answer would be.
I think this is an even better point than you make it out to be. It obviates the need to consult the small group of subjects in the first place. It can be asked of everyone. When this question is asked of the Dr. Evil clones, the honest answer would be “I don’t give a care what’s fair,” and the rules for the larger CEV will then be selected without any “votes” from Evil clones.
torekp!CEV: “Is it fair to other people that Dr. Evil becomes the supreme ruler of the universe?” Dr. Evil clone #574,837,904,521: “Yes, it is. As an actually evil person, I honestly believe it.”
And right there is the reason why the plan would not work...!
The wishes of the evil clones would not converge on any particular Dr. Evil. You’d get a trillion separate little volitions, which would be outweighed by the COHERENT volition of the remaining 1%.
That might be true if Dr. Evil’s goal is to rule the world. But if Dr. Evil’s goals are either a) for the world to be ruled by a Dr. Evil or b) to destroy the world, then this is still a problem. Both of those seem like much less likely failure modes more out of something from a comic book or the like (the fact that we are calling this fellow Dr. Evil doesn’t help matters) but it does suggest that there are serious general failures of the CEV protocol.
Both of those seem like much less likely failure modes more out of something from a comic book or the like (the fact that we are calling this fellow Dr. Evil doesn’t help matters)
It could be worse: The reason why there are only two Sith, a master and apprentice, is because The Force can be used to visualize the CEV of a particular group, and The Sith have mastered this and determined that 2 is the largest reliably stable population.
I think this is an even better point than you make it out to be. It obviates the need to consult the small group of subjects in the first place. It can be asked of everyone. When this question is asked of the Dr. Evil clones, the honest answer would be “I don’t give a care what’s fair,” and the rules for the larger CEV will then be selected without any “votes” from Evil clones.
torekp!CEV: “Is it fair to other people that Dr. Evil becomes the supreme ruler of the universe?”
Dr. Evil clone #574,837,904,521: “Yes, it is. As an actually evil person, I honestly believe it.”
And right there is the reason why the plan would not work...!
The wishes of the evil clones would not converge on any particular Dr. Evil. You’d get a trillion separate little volitions, which would be outweighed by the COHERENT volition of the remaining 1%.
That might be true if Dr. Evil’s goal is to rule the world. But if Dr. Evil’s goals are either a) for the world to be ruled by a Dr. Evil or b) to destroy the world, then this is still a problem. Both of those seem like much less likely failure modes more out of something from a comic book or the like (the fact that we are calling this fellow Dr. Evil doesn’t help matters) but it does suggest that there are serious general failures of the CEV protocol.
It could be worse: The reason why there are only two Sith, a master and apprentice, is because The Force can be used to visualize the CEV of a particular group, and The Sith have mastered this and determined that 2 is the largest reliably stable population.