Trigger warning: discussion of white racism (read: “Please don’t ban me.”)
I think censorship plays an important role in the memetic environment—a meme that is fit will be less successful if censored. An obvious case would be anti-CCP ideologies in China. Closer to home, any meme which big tech companies all decide should be banned will reach far fewer eyes and ears.
One object-level example of a fit-but-censored meme is racist white nationalism.
The reason I bring it up is this: I think its adherents would strongly reject let’s-all-die-ism. It is certainly not pro-all-humans but is at least pro-some-humans. Their slogan, called “the 14 words” from “14/88″ is literally: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
(disclaimer: I am not suggesting I think trying to secretly convert white AI researchers into racists is the best plan to save the world; just a relevant thought and perhaps an instructive example of an anti-collective-suicide meme advantaged by aspects of human instinct and psychology (regardless of its truth value).)
Including AI in your moral circle could be framed as a symptom of extending your moral circle “too wide”. The opposite is restriction of your moral circle, like seeing your own family’s wellbeing as more important than <outgroup>’s. Any type of thought like this which puts AI in the outgroup, and appeals to the good-ness of the ingroup, would produce similar will-to-exist.
Trigger warning: discussion of white racism (read: “Please don’t ban me.”)
I think censorship plays an important role in the memetic environment—a meme that is fit will be less successful if censored. An obvious case would be anti-CCP ideologies in China. Closer to home, any meme which big tech companies all decide should be banned will reach far fewer eyes and ears.
One object-level example of a fit-but-censored meme is racist white nationalism.
The reason I bring it up is this: I think its adherents would strongly reject let’s-all-die-ism. It is certainly not pro-all-humans but is at least pro-some-humans. Their slogan, called “the 14 words” from “14/88″ is literally: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
(disclaimer: I am not suggesting I think trying to secretly convert white AI researchers into racists is the best plan to save the world; just a relevant thought and perhaps an instructive example of an anti-collective-suicide meme advantaged by aspects of human instinct and psychology (regardless of its truth value).)
Including AI in your moral circle could be framed as a symptom of extending your moral circle “too wide”. The opposite is restriction of your moral circle, like seeing your own family’s wellbeing as more important than <outgroup>’s. Any type of thought like this which puts AI in the outgroup, and appeals to the good-ness of the ingroup, would produce similar will-to-exist.