What do beneficial TDT trades for humanity concretely look like?

post by Stephen Fowler (LosPolloFowler) · 2023-06-10T06:50:21.817Z · LW · GW · No comments

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Who do you think you're trading with and why?
What explicitly is being traded?
What mechanism enables both parties to trust the other?

I am quite pessimistic TDT related trades. Not because I think it isn't a real thing, but because I think the kinds of "trade offers" we encounter will be extremely negative. But I also know of at least two well established safety researchers who are extremely optimistic about the idea. 

If I understand it correctly, Richard Ngo's "Ants and the Grasshopper [LW · GW]" is suggesting (I think) that human civilization (the grasshopper) encountering an alien AI swarm (the ants) could trade us not fighting back against genocide with the possibility of human civilization being simulated in the distant future.

This idea appeals to me, but also seems to run into the problem that there is an extremely grim alternative trade that is usually cheaper for the ants.

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