i think the prerequisite for identifying with other life is sensing other life. more precisely, the extent to which you sense other life correlates with the chance that you do identify with other life.
your sight scenario is tricky, I think, because it’s possible that the sum/extent of a person’s net sensing (ie how much they sense) isn’t affected by the number of sense they have. Anecdotally I’ve heard that when someone goes blind their other senses get more powerful. In other words, their “sensing capacity” (vague term I know, but still important I think) might stay equal even as their # sensors changes.
If capacity to sense other beings doesn’t stay equal but instead goes down, I’d guess their ability to empathize takes a hit too.
the implication for superintelligence is interesting. we both want superintelligence to be able to sense human aliveness by giving it different angles/sensors/mechanisms for doing so, but also we want it to devote a lot of its overall “sensing capacity” (independent of particular sensors) to doing so.
i think the prerequisite for identifying with other life is sensing other life. more precisely, the extent to which you sense other life correlates with the chance that you do identify with other life.
your sight scenario is tricky, I think, because it’s possible that the sum/extent of a person’s net sensing (ie how much they sense) isn’t affected by the number of sense they have. Anecdotally I’ve heard that when someone goes blind their other senses get more powerful. In other words, their “sensing capacity” (vague term I know, but still important I think) might stay equal even as their # sensors changes.
If capacity to sense other beings doesn’t stay equal but instead goes down, I’d guess their ability to empathize takes a hit too.
the implication for superintelligence is interesting. we both want superintelligence to be able to sense human aliveness by giving it different angles/sensors/mechanisms for doing so, but also we want it to devote a lot of its overall “sensing capacity” (independent of particular sensors) to doing so.