Don’t know if off topic here:
I’m not sure the position “probes competing for resources cann’t afford to uphold any values that could interfere with replication and survival” is as obviously true as many seem to suggest.
It sure does seem sort of intuitive, but then we notice that organismes have been competing for resources and reproducing for billions of years, and yet plenty of animals evolved behavior which looks like a complete counter example to the “efficiency uber alles” ethos ( human , lions (which rest 80% of the time), complexe birds mating rituals ) .
If it worked this way for self replicating biological nano machines, why would it work differently for von neumann probes?
Thank you for taking the time to write this.
After reading Contra the Social Model of Disability, I did feel like something was off, but that would probably not have been enough to challenge the overall conclusion, as I admire Scott too much.
It makes me feel safe that this community is capable of calling out each other’s mistake, no matter your social standing.