"A last invention" here means the ability to "retire" and leave further inventions to our superintelligent "children". So, no self-contradiction in this sense: on the contrary, this is how the faster spiral of inventions and faster spiral of evolution starts. Old people do retire all the time. (Of course, in reality one probably would not want to "retire", but would want to be upgraded, to become one of superintelligences and to participate in this new game, but that's another line of thought.)
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But yes, I can imagine that I'd like an extra parent, who is loving and not necessarily omnipotent, but fairly powerful. And yes, I can even imagine an interesting pragmatic dimension of that. E.g. if such a parent is not omnipotent, but still can guide me through interesting breakthroughs, or care about me when I am in trouble.
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What's I can't imagine is what Bill Gates or his family and their supposed capabilities might be good for in this sense. I mean, other than the fact that they have money and some experience in putting functioning organizations together. In this sense, yes, if I have an interesting project which is stuck and needs financial/organizational help, then a competent businessperson with experience and resources might help to move it forward (and it so happens that I actually do have a project which can benefit from something like this). But any normal competent businessperson could do something like that, it does not have to be a superrich superfamous person.
And this does not seem to have anything to do with superintelligence. In fact, the presence of true superintelligence would probably make this project unnecessary (the main value of this particular project might be that it can facilitate a faster path towards actual superintelligence). The presence of true superintelligence would probably make any traditionally human project very optional in any case...
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And then... a Bill Gates or a Jeff Bezos... while they are important figures in our social trajectory, it does not feel like they have much of superintelligence (actually, they are an integral part of our modern society, and to the extent that the society has some traces of future superintelligence, and to the extent that society does take care of us to some extent, in this sense they are a bit associated with that). But I am not sure it would be good or fun to be closely associated with such people, or I am not sure whether they have any meaningful extra capabilities (in addition to what a normal competent businessperson mentioned above would have).
Forget immortality, anti-aging, and healthcare. And forget a bit of normal business or research financing and a bit of help with organizing. Let's set these dimensions aside.
After we set these dimensions aside, can you name a single thing Bill Gates or his family could do for any of us?
no subject
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But yes, I can imagine that I'd like an extra parent, who is loving and not necessarily omnipotent, but fairly powerful. And yes, I can even imagine an interesting pragmatic dimension of that. E.g. if such a parent is not omnipotent, but still can guide me through interesting breakthroughs, or care about me when I am in trouble.
***
What's I can't imagine is what Bill Gates or his family and their supposed capabilities might be good for in this sense. I mean, other than the fact that they have money and some experience in putting functioning organizations together. In this sense, yes, if I have an interesting project which is stuck and needs financial/organizational help, then a competent businessperson with experience and resources might help to move it forward (and it so happens that I actually do have a project which can benefit from something like this). But any normal competent businessperson could do something like that, it does not have to be a superrich superfamous person.
And this does not seem to have anything to do with superintelligence. In fact, the presence of true superintelligence would probably make this project unnecessary (the main value of this particular project might be that it can facilitate a faster path towards actual superintelligence). The presence of true superintelligence would probably make any traditionally human project very optional in any case...
***
And then... a Bill Gates or a Jeff Bezos... while they are important figures in our social trajectory, it does not feel like they have much of superintelligence (actually, they are an integral part of our modern society, and to the extent that the society has some traces of future superintelligence, and to the extent that society does take care of us to some extent, in this sense they are a bit associated with that). But I am not sure it would be good or fun to be closely associated with such people, or I am not sure whether they have any meaningful extra capabilities (in addition to what a normal competent businessperson mentioned above would have).
Forget immortality, anti-aging, and healthcare. And forget a bit of normal business or research financing and a bit of help with organizing. Let's set these dimensions aside.
After we set these dimensions aside, can you name a single thing Bill Gates or his family could do for any of us?