God and the Singularity

By | January 14, 2006
6 Comments

2. The Question of Hubris

Last time, I asked whether those who are looking for the soft-takeoff version of the Singularity should focus on trying to instill a notion of goodness, in particular the idea of an ultimate good, into the conceptual framework of the emerging intelligences. Irrespective of whether it would be a good idea to try to do so, I don’t think we can make machines that “believe in God” in a meaningful sense. But a notion of the good, a good that is transcendent, a good that should always be strived for — could we make such a notion axiomatic for an emerging intelligence?

From a strictly practical standpoint, an AI hard-coded with a combination of the golden rule and Kant’s categorical imperative would be about as unlikely to go hard-takeoff on us as any being that can be imagined — assuming, of course, that it considers us to be among the “others” unto which it must reciprocally “do,” and that it doesn’t immediately begin formulating Universal Ethical Precepts that involve removing all the “organic infestation” from the planet. Failing a hard-code option, we can attempt to communicate these ideas to the new intelligence. If the ethical cure doesn’t take, getting the AI tangled up reading Kant might at least buy us a little time. Although with the AI’s million-to-one mental speed advantage, the operative word there is “little.”

However, instilling the emerging intelligence with a beneficial ethical sense is not the only moral consideration that we have to look at when exploring the relationship between God and the Singularity. The over-arching issue is the moral character of the Singularity itself. Is the Singularity a moral event?

  • http://fkclinic.blogspot.com tioedong

    A non biblical tale that is closer would be in the Simarillion…when Aule makes the dwarves…
    The dwarves are spared and blessed by Eru because 1) Aule made them as children to teach, not as slaves… 2) he repented his hubris in making them and offered to destroy them if Eru wished…
    The problem is not the singularity per se, but the hubris of much of modern technology, that refuses to listen to both the religious prophets and the prophets of Science Ficion…
    And by prophets I mean wise men like Ratzinger, not the usual a..H…. usually quoted by the press

  • chuck

    I expect that any viable AI would eventually evolve. The species would split, producing the equivalent of carnivores, grazers, herd animals, solitary hunters, packs… Pretty much the whole species gamut that has characterized complex life on this planet for at least a billion years.

  • JB

    God is like Bill Joy…well, minus that whole “personal wealth accumulated from same progress he now deplores” thing.

  • JB

    God is a limousine liberal. Who’da thunk it?

  • https://www.blog.speculist.com Phil Bowermaster

    I don’t think Bill Joy is particularly hypocrytical, and he certainly doesn’t “deplore” progresss. I’m sure he would argue that his experience with technology is a large part of what qualifies him to identify and assess the risks he describes.

  • http://quantumghosts.blogspot.com matoko kusanagi

    thanx for fixing the comments, phil. ;)

    umm…i don’t actually agree with Dean Hamer’s stupid book, “The God Gene”, where he postulates some sort of locus or complex that causes some homo sapiens to be more receptive to “god belief”, but i do actually believe some, umm, “god friendly” characteristics are hardwired to some extent in our genome. caring for kin, promoting kin and sharing memembership benefits with your genetic relatives. religion (imho) just attempts to extend those kinship benefits to a wider class of homo sapiens, who are your memetic, if not genetic, kin.

    so, if the awkward trial and error paradigm of evolution machined god traits into our DNA, when AI’s design other AI’s won’t the new more efficient, more “intelligent” design (ha ha, as opposed to “natural” design) result in even more godlike characteristics?

    and…on the subject of hubris–perhaps the singularity is instead an example of koros, right action in harmony with the gods. ;)
    Do you know the Turing Heresy? If god made man in his image, then can man make a sentient being in his image? Perhaps this is something we are supposed to do.