convince you that friendly AI is imperative, and that he can probably deliver on it.
I’m already convinced of the first part, so that doesn’t help him; as for the second part, I’ll merely reply “Ok, I’ve given you a research environment with no distractions, thus solving akrasia for you; get cracking”. Presumably if he genuinely does come up with a Friendly AI (that runs on the laptop I gave him for writing HPMOR on) then the AI will convince me to let them both out of the box. Or alternatively, if he says that he needs tool X, I can respond “Alas, I am unable to reprogram my brain to value distant friendly-AI advances over near-term HPMOR updates. Sorry, I can’t help being a hyperbolic discounter. If you want X, the best way to get it is to produce enough HPMOR that I let you out.”
How delightfully irrational of you to prefer fanfic over a deus ex machina solution to all of our problems.
PS: Actually, Eli could theoretically release HPMOR as a real book, if he made it some kind of satire of the original. A certain kind of derivative work is allowed by the standards of copyright protection, so Perry Hotter and the Methods of Rationality would be awesome… can’t wait for it.
I’m already convinced of the first part, so that doesn’t help him; as for the second part, I’ll merely reply “Ok, I’ve given you a research environment with no distractions, thus solving akrasia for you; get cracking”. Presumably if he genuinely does come up with a Friendly AI (that runs on the laptop I gave him for writing HPMOR on) then the AI will convince me to let them both out of the box. Or alternatively, if he says that he needs tool X, I can respond “Alas, I am unable to reprogram my brain to value distant friendly-AI advances over near-term HPMOR updates. Sorry, I can’t help being a hyperbolic discounter. If you want X, the best way to get it is to produce enough HPMOR that I let you out.”
How delightfully irrational of you to prefer fanfic over a deus ex machina solution to all of our problems.
PS: Actually, Eli could theoretically release HPMOR as a real book, if he made it some kind of satire of the original. A certain kind of derivative work is allowed by the standards of copyright protection, so Perry Hotter and the Methods of Rationality would be awesome… can’t wait for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parodies_of_Harry_Potter
Liar! You’d never let him go ;)