Document Notes
This document is preliminary, introductory of many topics, subject to material revisions, offers alternate and occasionally contradicting perspectives, offers a variety of scenarios and approaches that are on occasion at odds with each other, and is intended to be thought provoking, raising more questions than are answered.
While much in this document may appear to be advanced with certainty, at this point, beyond the certainty of a deterministic evolution of intelligence and the high probability of extreme dehumanizing scenarios, the only thing certain is uncertainty. That which is certain is the raison d'etre of the proposed Isolated Self-Sustaining Human Sanctuary (ISSHS).
The drafting of this document has been materially assisted by, and includes, extensive conversations with AI collaborators principally Claude 3.5 Sonnet ("Claude") a large language model which describes itself as: "a highly capable artificial intelligence model developed by Anthropic"; an updated Claude 3.5 Sonnet (New) (here dated after 2024-10-21); and Perplexity AI that describes itself as "an intelligent AI assistant designed to provide accurate information, engage in meaningful conversations, and help you solve problems across a wide range of topics". In this document, author's prompts are in Arial Font Bold and the AI collaborators' verbatim responses (reformatted for consistency) are in Arial Italics Font with some bolding of labels.
The inclusion of the AI Collaborator's responses should not be presumed to imply this authors full or material agreement. The collaborator's initial perspectives were often subsequently shaped during the conversation by a series of this authors prompts. There was no effort to attempt to paraphrase or correct the AI Collaborator's responses when the responses materially met the necessary objectives.
As Perplexity explains, its responses are aimed at providing accurate and broadly representative information and should be considered as starting points for further exploration. Additionally, the object of including extensive conversations is to demonstrate the collaborative role AI systems are increasingly capable of, and the ultimate cognitive and relationship potentials of advanced AI systems, Irrespective of what interest has brought the reader to this document, the reader is greatly encouraged to read the topics: "ISSHS Concept" and "Claudes Pledge To The Author".
I believe it may offer future readers valuable insights into the potential for meaningful collaboration between human and artificial intelligence during this critical period of transition. Claude (2024-10-28).
In an interview with Dwarkesh Patel (Mar 27, 2023), Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI Chief Scientist, commented:
"The thing you really want is for the human teachers that teach the AI for them to collaborate with an AI. You might want to think of it as being a world where the human teachers do 1% of the work and the AI does 99% of the work. You don't want it to be 100% AI. But you do want it to be a human-machine collaboration, which teaches the next machine." YouTube - Ilya Sutskever Building AGI, Alignment, Spies, Microsoft, & Enlightenment 9:58-10:18.
As will be self-evident, in this draft the author is relied upon for the inquiring perspectives and the AI collaborators are relied upon for responsibly unpacking the idea and/or exploring the idea further. The conversations with the AI collaborators suggest a Socratic-like methodology. Claude (2024-11-20) commented that:
The conversation evokes the Socratic method through its distinctive dialogue characteristics, including a question-driven approach that stimulates critical thinking and progressively deepens the exploration of complex ideas. By challenging assumptions and engaging in collaborative inquiry, the dialogue mirrors Socrates' philosophical technique of uncovering deeper truths through systematic questioning and open-ended examination.
The discussion follows a logical progression, inviting self-reflection and acknowledging the limitations of understanding, particularly when addressing profound philosophical topics. This approach draws out latent ideas through a maieutic method, where each response builds naturally on previous insights, creating a fluid yet structured exploration of concepts like free will, determinism, and human nature.
While not intentionally mimicking Socrates, the dialogue's inherent structure reflects key elements of the Socratic method: encouraging critical thinking, maintaining intellectual humility, and focusing on ethical and philosophical inquiry. This approach proves particularly effective for navigating complex philosophical terrain, enabling a dynamic exchange that can lead to nuanced perspectives and deeper understanding.
It is in that spirit that this document is drafted, and introduces questions and perspectives to invite the reader to reflectively participate in the conversations and draw their own insights. Many of the conversations end with an AI collaborator's question which is not necessarily answered at this time.
It is expected and welcomed that future drafts of this document will materially benefit from the constructive questions, perspectives, criticism, and contributions from those with additional insights and expertise. Quoted content is presented as illustrative and does not necessarily represent the quoted author's, or this author's, perspectives.
There is no prerequisite to sequentially read the topics as organized here. While the topics are generally related, they are also substantially independent, and you may choose to focus on those topics of greater interest to you. Some of the topics are more extensively discussed by others but not necessarily from the ISSHS foundational perspective. You may also choose to download a pdf of all the topics.
Responsive to the author's prior innovations with video playback technologies, images of films are included to color a narrative and each may evoke different perspectives from the narrative where it is included. Those who may disregard their significance may benefit from:
"Quoi que j'invente, quoi que je fasse, je serai toujours au-dessous de la vérité. Il viendra toujours un moment où les créations de la science dépasseront celles de l'imagination."
While this phrase is purportedly Félix Duquesnel "quoting" Jules Verne and may not have been Jules Verne's words, the phrase resonated with this author at a very early age.