Roko's Basilisk or Pascal's? Thinking of Singularity Thought Experiments as Implicit Religion
In 2010 a thought experiment speculating on the motivations and aims of a potential superintelligent Artificial Intelligence, sometimes known as the Singularity," caused uproar and anxiety on the forum board where it was initially posted. This article considers that thought experiment's d...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2017]
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| In: |
Implicit religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 20, Issue: 3, Pages: 279-297 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Thought experiment
/ Artificial intelligence
/ Risk assessment
/ Prognosis
/ Pascal's wager
/ Society
/ Secularism
/ Atheism
/ Religion
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| Further subjects: | B
existential risk
B Singularity B Atheism B Artificial Intelligence B UNIQUENESS (Philosophy) B Religion B Technological innovations B Roko's Basilisk B anthropology of AI B thought experiments |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | In 2010 a thought experiment speculating on the motivations and aims of a potential superintelligent Artificial Intelligence, sometimes known as the Singularity," caused uproar and anxiety on the forum board where it was initially posted. This article considers that thought experiment's debt to older forms of religious argument, the reactions from among the community, and how expectations about the Singularity as a being with agency can be considered to be an example of implicit religion. This is significant as the thought experiment appeared in a field of research, AI, considered by many to be secular due to its technological focus. The communities under discussion also explicitly express their aim of perfecting" human rationality, and place that ability in opposition to religion" as a derided object and the aims of Goddists" in general. This tension between overt atheism and secular communities' return to religious tropes and narratives is relevant for the wider study of religion in the contemporary era. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-1697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Implicit religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/imre.35900 |