“Wealth then. Wealth measures access to resources—so convert to gold, silver, barrels of oil, etc to measure it—if you don’t trust your country’s currency.”
I may not have gotten the point across. An AI aiming to maximize its wealth in U.S. dollars can do astronomically better by taking control of the Federal Reserve (if dollars are defined in its utility function as being issued by the Reserve, with only the bare minimum required to meet that definition being allowed to persist) and having it start issuing $3^^^3 bills than any commercial activities.
Similarly, for wealth that can be converted to barrels of oil, creating an oil bank that issues oil vouchers in numbers astronomically exceeding its reserves could let an AI possess 3^^^3 account units each convertible to a barrel of oil.
Many goods simply are no longer available, e.g. no one is making new original Van Gogh art from his lifetime, and inclusion in the basket of goods defining wealth could break down a relevant function.
“Wealth then. Wealth measures access to resources—so convert to gold, silver, barrels of oil, etc to measure it—if you don’t trust your country’s currency.”
I may not have gotten the point across. An AI aiming to maximize its wealth in U.S. dollars can do astronomically better by taking control of the Federal Reserve (if dollars are defined in its utility function as being issued by the Reserve, with only the bare minimum required to meet that definition being allowed to persist) and having it start issuing $3^^^3 bills than any commercial activities.
Similarly, for wealth that can be converted to barrels of oil, creating an oil bank that issues oil vouchers in numbers astronomically exceeding its reserves could let an AI possess 3^^^3 account units each convertible to a barrel of oil.
Many goods simply are no longer available, e.g. no one is making new original Van Gogh art from his lifetime, and inclusion in the basket of goods defining wealth could break down a relevant function.