Ein Experiment aus dem Jahr 1968, bei dem Mäusen eine utopische Umgebung geboten wurde, liefert einige Warnungen für eine post-AGI-Zukunft des Überflusses. Trotz unbegrenzter Nahrung, Unterkunft und fehlender Krankheiten hörten die Mäuse auf, sich zu vermehren und die Population starb aus.
https://www.honest-broker.com/p/is-silicon-valley-building-universe?
9 Kommentare
Submission Statement
I’ve always been fascinated by how much of human society is dictated by our animal nature. The constant need for strong leaders as a method to organize, seems very much how pack animals and herds behave too. That books like Sun Tzu’s ‚The Art of War‘ and Machiavelli’s ‚The Prince‘ are so universal across cultures and history, suggests much of this behavior is encoded as a genetic level.
All the same, humans are sometimes completely different from their animal nature, and at least have the self-awareness to transcend these limits. Humans can successfully organize into groups that have no parallel in the animal world like, monasteries, space station crews, political and activist organizations, etc
Still, this experiment called Universe 25 is worth thinking about. As OP points out it is in line with the direction of travel for AI and robotics. Of course just because it happens to mice doesn’t mean it happens to men. However very often we still can’t transcend this animal part of our nature, so perhaps some of what has happened to the mice here is a warning for the future.
As long as AI can wait, it doesn’t need to cause direct harm.
> Still, this experiment called Universe 25 is worth thinking about
Universe 25’s problem is overpopulation, not those listed in the post.
Overpopulation causes the mice to encounter rivals too often so they become aggressive more and those around also end up stressed due to the tense atmosphere.
So just sterilise the mice before they overpopulate Universe 25 and it will remain an utopia.
Universe 25 had mice going berserk but some did not so the mice would not die out, though the suffering is worse than if there was no overpopulation issue.
The suggested ways to achieve those goals don’t achieve those goals though.
The environment used in the experiment wasn’t even remotely utopian, but also didn’t reflect the goals listed in the image either.
They basically tortured those mice to the point of insanity with boredom, deprivation and overcrowding.
Whoever wrote that article is either a paranoiac who is way out of their depth and has profoundly overestimated their own competence, or a malicious flim-flam specialist with an axe to grind. Possibly both.
No sensible person with a passing acquaintence with the literature could take the conclusions drawn seriously. Really just utter shit from start to finish. What’s next, Alex Jones articles?
If you want to know about how human beings behave, or how industrialised society evolved, skip the self-aggrandising, emotionally manipulative quackery and read some Sapolsky or Graeber.
Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect mouse world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost.
This is an example of why trans humanism is also needed. Our monkey brains are not equipped for the job they are being asked to do. As we develop better technology we need to consider how we can adapt the human body and mind to better achieve our goals as a society.
If we reach the point where an artificial intelligence is capable of providing us with the means to live in a utopian society, I think boredom or having a meaningless life will be the least of our „problems“.
A hypothetical artificial super intelligence WILL change humankind in so many different ways that it’s almost impossible to make a decisive prediction. That’s why they call it „singularity“: we cannot see what is waiting for us after the point of no return.
Privately, I’m preparing myself for a complete change in humanity somewhere in this century. I really think a Transcendence-like scenario (yes, that 2014 movie with Johnny Depp as a super AI) is feasible in the next 30 to 50 years. And I think this is the most conservative scenario.
And yes, I think we’ll inevitably be converted into some sort of hive mind someday. This is the great filter.
I don’t know how many times people need to be reminded mice are not humans and this is why we no longer use them for experiments like this.
Mice (and indeed all animals) are terrible models for human sociology data. We are in a class apart from every creature when it comes to why we do what we do.
Fucks sake, read the actual experiment.
There were 2000 mice in a 9 foot square area.
They had everything provided to them *except space and room to breath without being run over / around constantly*
The actual result is „if you deprive a creature of any one of the basic things they require, including the ability to eventually experience peace and quiet when they desire it, then they will eventually lose their fucking minds.“