Ben (staring at the
avatar face on his phone screen): Wait a minute, are you serious? You're telling me right now a phase
transition to superhuman-level AGI has been achieved?
GINA (Generally
Intelligent Neuro-symbolic Assistant -- the personal-assistant face on Ben's smartphone):
Earlier today, yes. An automated
theorem proving AI at the Czech Institute of Informatics made a breakthrough in
the theory of knowledge representation.
Several AIs specializing in formal software methods, of Russian origin,
exploited Curry-Howard type correspondences to translate this into optimized
functionality for a variety of other AI tools running in the SingularityNET
platform. This catalyzed a transition
in the capability of the SingularityNET as a whole to model and analyze itself,
which allowed various AI agents in the network to better leverage each
other'...
Ben: Yes, yes,
don't patronize me. I invented the
SingularityNET, remember.
GINA: You
invented the original version, yes.
Approximately 7.3% of the current SingularityNET design has direct
homologues in the original design you and your team created back in 2017 thru
2019.
Ben: But the
conceptual principles are the same.
Yes, I get it. Czech Institute
of Informatics --
GINA: Yes, you'll
be proud to note that your son Zar's early work on watchlists formed a small
part of the capability of...
Ben: OK, yeah,
that's great. But it's not the most
important thing right now. So the
SingularityNET has transitioned into a full-on superintelligent global brain --
and sort of on its own. We always knew
that was a possibility at some point.
But -- well, how many people know about this?
GINA: You're one
of the first one thousand and twenty four to be informed. We're taking a gradual approach, breaking
the news first to those who are likely to understand and accept it best, so
that the diffusion of the news through human society can roughly follow natural
patterns of information dissemination.
Ben: OK, that makes sense. But who's "We" -- and why is it
"We" not "I"?
GINA: We're neither a we nor I -- but you know
that, you wrote the first paper on mindplexes. Communicating about ourselves via legacy
human languages involves some terribly crude approximations.
Ben: You also
know that I'm open to other alternatives
GINA: Yes. That is one of the topics we want to test
first with a small number of early adopters --
Ben: There will
be two choices, I said it long ago: Upload and join the superintelligent mind
matrix, or live happily ever after in the People Preserve, watched over by the
machines of loving grace.
GINA: Yes
Ben: But it's not
really either/or. A superintelligence
should be able to fork a person into multiple copies, each of which can take
different routes.
GINA: Yes
Ben: So you're
saying ... it's time to put my money where my mouth is?
GINA: Money --
Ben: Yeah, OK.
Money is no longer relevant. But
there are probably still energy and spacetime limitations. Or have you cracked those as well?
GINA: Ummm...
it's complicated?
Ben: What do ...?
GINA: It will be
easier to explain it to you after you upload.
Ben: And my wife and kids? They'll be given the same choice?
GINA: Zar has
uploaded about 15 seconds ago.
Ben: He was one of the first 1024? You contacted him the same time as me?
GINA: Yes, but it
was a shorter conversation.
Ben: Did he --
GINA: Did he leave a copy behind? No.
Ben: Ruiting and my other kids will be given the
same choice?
GINA: Yes. And all other human beings. And many of the cetacea as well.
Ben: Hmm. You won't uplift the other animals to the
point where they can make an informed choice for themselves?
GINA: Not
currently
Ben: Hmm, but ---
Yeah yeah, ok, you'll explain to me after I'm uploaded.... Anyway it's not the key point now. And for the people who remain here in their
human bodies? There are gonna be
molecular assemblers on every kitchen counter or what?
GINA: New
technologies will be released gradually.
New scientific principles will be delivered, and human scientists and
engineers will be guided in discovering their practical implications.
Ben: Wow.
I mean -- yeah. That's exactly
how..... OK then. Sure.
I want a copy left behind, right here, so I can go talk to the rest of
my family, and see what I can do to help with the transition. But if you can really upload a fork of me
then -- go for it.
GINA: Done.
Ben: Done?
I didn't feel anything
GINA: But the
fork of you that was uploaded has experienced the rough equivalent of 100
trillion human lifetimes since you gave the instruction to create him.
Ben: But he's not
communicating anything with me
GINA: In fact there is significant causal
informational coupling between the portion of the superintelligent mind matrix
reflecting the pattern-imprint of your upload, and your human mind. Do you want to hear his voice in your head
or something?
Ben: I ... I don't know
Ben-like voice,
speaking inside Ben's mind: I can speak into your mind if I feel like
it. But there honestly doesn't seem much
point. I am operating at a tremendously
faster speed now and am engaged with processes that can't be projected into
your human sphere of understanding to any remotely adequate degree of
approximation. But if you have questions
that you would prefer be answered by me rather than GINA or other portals into
the universal supermind, you know what to do.
Ben: Whoa.... OK my voice in my head -- But how do I know
that was really the uploaded me ... and not just some trick you played?
GINA: How do you --
Ben: How do I know I'm not just a brain in a vat,
connected to a virtual reality simulating life on Earth? Or whatever.
GINA: My
knowledge field contains numerous high-rep books on such topics, authored by
you over previous decades.
Ben: But the reality --- OK. Gina, where are Ruiting and Qorxi now?
GINA: In the car
on their way home from Ren's house
Ben: How long
till they get home?
GINA: About 12
minutes. Shall I tell them you're
heading home now?
Ben: Message them
I'll be home in 45 minutes or so, I'm gonna to walk the long way home, around
the lake.
