A quotation from Dante Alighieri:

«««««
If, dear Reader, what I tell you throws
you into disbelief, it’s no surprise —
I scarcely credit it myself, God knows,
and I was there.
[Se tu se’ or, lettore, a creder lento
ciò ch’io dirò, non sarà maraviglia,
ché io che ’l vidi, a pena il mi consento.]
»»»»»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/dante-alighieri-poet/61463/

#quote #quotes #quotation #disbelief #incredulity #testimony #witness

Roko's basilisk is a thought experiment about the potential risks involved in developing artificial intelligence. Its conclusion is that an all-powerful artificial intelligence from the future might retroactively punish those who did not help bring about its existence, including those who merely knew about the possible development of such a being. It is named after Roko Mijic, the member of the rationalist community #LessWrong who first publicly described it, though he did not originate the underlying ideas.

The basilisk resembles a futurist version of Pascal's wager, in that it suggests people should weigh possible punishment versus reward and as a result accept particular singularitarian ideas or financially support their development.

Despite widespread #incredulity, this argument is taken quite seriously by some people, primarily some denizens of LessWrong.

#RationalWIki #thoughtexperiment #artificialintelligence #rokosbasilisk #pascalswager #singularity
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Roko%27s_basilisk