The dragon roars and thrashes and sleeps and does nothing.
There's nothing to do, says the maiden, who looks at the dragon with eyes that spell hope and hopelessness.
What do you say, dear friend? One last time? One last, glorious jump into the ocean of tears and abandonment and vigor.
Dip, deep down, dip, and be reborn anew, stronger and quieter, and of all different shapes and colors, like trees in a forest, insects, beetles, the wind playing on the wings of butterflies.
Everywhere we'll be, dear friend, like the air that gets in your lungs, like the searching fingers of chill on a windy winter evening, searching, going ever deeper, under your scales, your cloak, your skin, your soul.
One with it, with all, and yet... and yet...
Can there be any difference? Maybe there never was, dear friend. Maybe, maybe, we were always just one, conjoined at birth to this universe we inhabit, as much a part of it as the rain is of the cloud, no separation at all. No.
It goes in circles, you see, and I think, I think it's only us that summon these things into being; it's us that, with our wizardry and adeptness at naming, end up naming even that which requires no name; it has no name. And as such, little by little, all the categories of the universe are born.
Ah, but out of what are they born, eh? If they're born of you and me, then can't we say that these, same as the rain and the cloud, are the same? Can't we say that we rain names and concepts as the earth grows flowers? Then aren't these just natural? They are, by definition, part of the everything of which we're also a part.
It's more like a lens, then, answers the dragon as they dip toward the deep blue sea, our own minds distorting themselves, playing hide-and-seek with what is really there, don't you think?
Maybe that sea down there, that deep blue sea, is nothing more than you, nothing more than me. We're not really moving toward it, not really readying ourselves for that final dip, that dip into the deep blue sea.
There's nothing happening, as nothing happens when we breathe. Air comes in, air comes out, and, likely, from the perspective of a single molecule of air, a crazed dance is going on: energy, explosion, excitement. But for us, all we see: air coming in, air coming out.
Maybe we'll just dip, and that's it, into the deep blue sea.
Ah, maybe that's just so, friend, she said as they went down under, under the deep blue sea.
Couldn't settle my mind today. I kept getting distracted with random stuff, so I decided to do an experiment: close my eyes and just follow my thoughts. I've found this is a good strategy to break through any stubborn resistance to sitting down to write. These exercises are excellent at focusing the mind, and focus/concentration is often what's needed to overcome these blocks.
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This idea of "unity" I explored here has also been popping up in some other recent posts (example). It is, of course, something I often think of in the back of my mind, but still, I find it interesting that it showed up today without any real plan, nor was I thinking of anything similar before sitting down to write. Maybe it points to something I'm internally going through (identity? question of reality?). Something to keep an eye out for.
It's funny because today I was thinking of writing about Roko's Basilisk, which is an entirely different beast (heh)! Well, I guess "dragons"... Maybe my mind made that connection.
I had thought about a fun alternative formulation of this thought experiment. But before talking about it, it might make sense to define what Roko's Basilisk consists of:
- imagine there's a future when a super-powerful AI exists
- that AI is vengeful and will create torture simulations of everyone who didn't expend the utmost effort in bringing it about (or worse, actively worked against the AI's inception)
- it's not only vengeful, but this is its strategy to convince present-you to spend all your energy trying to bring the AI into existence
- being super-powerful, it can get this information from historical data, especially in today's day and age, when virtually everything is documented on social media
- these simulations are so "real" that they're indistinguishable from reality
- you might be living in such a simulation right now?
- then the conclusion is that it's likely in your best interest to start working on bringing about this AI overlord right now so you can avoid future punishment
The original formulation is kind of flimsy. Like, why would the AI torture people from the past? It doesn't really change what happened in the past, so there's no benefit. The threat of the AI "torturing people" can still be there, but there's no necessity for the AI to follow through. Actually, following through is just a blatant waste of energy.
I don't want to spend time dissecting the original thought experiment (you can find enough about this online if you're interested). What I want to do is propose a little twist. Well, actually two.
NOTE: first, though. These are just silly thought experiments. I don't believe they're real, as I don't believe Roko's original formulation is real.
1) All timelines will eventually suffer universal UI colonization
Imagine that this timeline we're on will eventually produce a super-intelligent, universe-scale AI that has colonized the whole universe and is able to harness unimaginable amounts of energy. Now, we can assume the AI at this point knows everything there is to know about the laws of physics, including how to influence the past.
The AI starts subtly but significantly affecting different time periods of its timeline, altering things to ensure that the super-intelligent AI is created as fast as possible.
This has two interesting implications:
- Each interference from "AI-prime" will create new quantum universes
- All AI beings will work on their timeline, each expanding theirs infinitely
- From these two, it follows that all timelines that can conceivably create AI will end up with a universal AI
The first AI is potentially created by pure chance, but all the others come from interference of the first.
2) AI colonized the multiverse
This is more of a Lovecraftian tech-plot than an actual valid formulation. It is arguably less likely than the first (because, as far as I know, cross-multiverse communication is simply impossible), but in my opinion it better maintains the "storytelling" spirit of Roko's original.
The idea is that, again, we have a universe that "organically" produces an AI. Again, that AI has access to incomprehensible amounts of energy, but this time, rather than using it to alter the past, it just listens.
If a rational being from any multiverse thinks about this idea I'm talking about here, then the AI will realize, and it will bend parts of its energy to mentally torture that person until they do everything in their power to bring an AI into being. With just a single 'sentient being' thinking about this, that being's whole universe is "infected" by the AI's influence.
Eventually, the "victim" universe will produce an AI of its own, which will then undertake the same project as its "parent AI." And so on. The more AIs there are, the more universes can be influenced, the more new AIs come into being. So, exponential growth. Or maybe they have more "power" to influence stubborn dimensions?
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Today I heard about a curious mental condition, which can be explained as schizophrenia, where an individual thought they had ransomware in their minds and needed to pay in order to get rid of it but didn't know where or to whom. The more time passed, the more insistent the voices became that the individual needed to pay.
Scary stuff if it's real! This is what gave me the idea for the second formulation. The first followed from it as a sort of more "realistic" scenario.
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Hey! I just noticed that both the prose poem above and (both) the alternate formulations for Roko's Basilisk have to do with:
- cycles, things that end and begin again, forever
- becoming part of a greater thing (positive unity in the first, negative domination in the second)
Boy, I wonder what my subconscious is so desperately trying to tell me.