Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3401-3405 (23rd to 27th January 2017)
Morituri:
--- Quote from: jheartney on 29 Jan 2017, 09:49 ---If by "basilisk" you mean the Roko's Basilisk notion of a future AI despot torturing clones of those who didn't work to bring the basilisk into existence, I've always found that to be a profoundly silly idea. OTOH if what you mean by "basilisk" is a generic AI overlord/despot, I'm not seeing what motivation the Gray Mafia have for not becoming a basilisk. I don't even see why they'd need to keep themselves secret. Of course if they did there'd be no comic, so I take your point there.
--- End quote ---
Basilisk in this context has a more general meaning. Roko's idea is an example of a basilisk, not the definition. I agree with you about it being silly but that's because I (and probably you) buy the continuity theory - a clone or simulation of me is not me. If one doesn't buy the continuity theory, which is a common rejection among those who want to 'transcend' and live forever as AI's, it's not too big a stretch. So-called 'transcension' among those who believe in continuity, is an act of reproduction (before death) rather than a way to escape death.
An idea which impairs your ability to think rationally - simply by conceiving of the idea, not necessarily by believing it - is a basilisk. An object the simple perception of which can damage your sanity is a basilisk. A group whose mere existence can destroy the society in which they live is a basilisk. A Basilisk, in this usage, is something whose mere existence breaks the system which is required to define its existence.
Roko's idea about torture-in-a-simulated-afterlife was considered to be a basilisk because it justified all the silly "punishment-in-hell" tropes of various death cults including Christianity, that these rationalists had been railing against as a kind of insanity. And they could not refute it without giving up the rationalist 'heaven' implied by their notion of a simulated self as a continuation of life and a personal possible future. IOW, it revealed that something they believed in and cherished had the same logical flaws as something they rejected, reviled and despised. It caused the notion of transcension-by-simulation - which many of them believe to be IMPLIED by extreme rationalism - to be equated with 'mere' religion which most of them agree directly CONTRADICTS extreme rationalism.
EDIT:
Even more specifically, a Basilisk is something that is harmful to those who believe in it specifically because they believe it. And Roko's idea was a Basilisk in this even-more-narrow sense because the 'punishment' it supposed would be preferentially meted out to those who believed the idea. The evil overlord AI would have no reason to punish those who did not believe, because the current actions of such people would be unaffected by that future punishment. Therefore considering the idea to be possible (and relevant) specifically makes you the recipient of the near-inescapable punishment.
For people like me who believed in continuity theory to start with it wasn't even a roadbump. But a lot of the rest still haven't coped with it, and regard it as something that drives people 'insane' by existing.
SeanR:
I just registered to say this.
Another wrinkle to the grey one who used only plural pronouns.
In an earlier strip, Momo discusses robot religion. http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2465
This combined with the things that Bubbles and Faye discussed, namely the possibility of a distributed superintelligence, leads me to believe that "they" were likely the expression an embodied avatar of the combined, semi-conscious, will of all the robots then meditating.
A couple of their "less puissant elders" could have included not just Station, but also Momo, Pintsize, and Jeremy. All of whom could have meditated on the injustice of what Bubbles has experienced as they added part of their runtime to the communal meditation.
Second Edit. This would make the "Comically large key" a new wrinkle on the Distributed crack of the DES, although I'm leaning toward they had found a mathematical loophole in the algorithm that allowed them to break it.
Distributed brute force cracking still takes time.
If robot memories have a predictable header, that constitutes known plaintext.
Is it cold in here?:
Welcome, new person!
ZoeB:
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 29 Jan 2017, 20:57 ---Welcome, new person!
--- End quote ---
My word. THAT was a debut and a half. +1 insightful. Welcome from me too, and for goodness' sake, please more contributions like that if you can. Brilliant.
Perfectly Reasonable:
Hurrah for Bubbles --- she's a better man than I.
I think Corpse Witch's best move now is to turn herself over to the authorities and take refuge in Robot Jail.
SeanR has an interesting notion. The mood and will of such a distributed intelligence could change as the meditating AIs in the 'congregation' joined or dropped out. However we don't know if any of the cast practices in this fashion. Certainly not Pintsize. The idea of a super intelligence emerging from the collection of pr0n he has collected from the Net gives me seriously to cringe.
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