The Negentropy Cliff 2023-08-17T17:08:20.962Z

Comment by mephistopheles on The Negentropy Cliff · 2023-08-19T13:21:01.443Z · LW · GW

Of course! The way I think of it, violence would be using other lifeforms as sources of negentropy.

I like the invasive species argument, I agree that we would be very vulnreable to an engineered pathogen.

Comment by mephistopheles on The Negentropy Cliff · 2023-08-19T13:09:20.357Z · LW · GW

Agreed! I don’t see if there is a quick “hack” that will enable ASI to harness that negentropy though. The "cliff" I had in mind would look like creating a sizable competitive advantage with only small scale control.

 E.g. the first bacteria to perform photosynthesis locally changed a single molecule and had an advantage that its competitors could neither match nor negate. I wonder how ASI could pull the rug from beneath us in a comparable manner.