Claim · 2001-02-26 · publication · Stated in source · Supported

De Garis's essay of 2001 states that it would be a cosmic tragedy for humanity to freeze evolution at the human level, setting this against the age of the universe and its trillion trillion stars.

One recorded claim. The claim panel gives its qualification, the source passages with their place in each source, and how it was checked.

What it connects

Building Gods or Building Our Potential Exterminators? → articulates → Machine intelligence as a physical or cosmic process

Where it appears

Machine succession, scale and acceleration: propositions in located texts, 1979–2026 →

Claim and evidence

Building Gods or Building Our Potential Exterminators?articulates ↓Machine intelligence as a physical or cosmic process

Machine-checkedStated in sourceSupported

Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source

Date: 2001-02-26 · publication Records dated 2001 →
Wording attested: 2026-10-31. Wording read in the current Kurzweil Library page (address ?p=80464, redirected), retrieved 2026-10-31; the KurzweilAI.net copy of 2001 and its captures were not read or compared.
Role: Articulation
Register (kind of text): Nonfiction

Scope and limitsStates an evolutionary framing as the author's own view; no physical mechanism is argued.

The evidence 01

primary sourceSupports the claim

Building Gods or Building Our Potential Exterminators?

The Kurzweil Library (writingsbyraykurzweil.com), copy of an essay 'Originally published February 26, 2001 on KurzweilAI.net' · 2001-02-26

Cite the original source

Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.

Source excerpt

“Ultimately, I think it would be a cosmic tragedy if humanity chooses to freeze evolution at the puny human level”

Location in source paragraph 'So which am I, a Cosmist or a Terran?'

How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher

Machine-checked · 2026-11-01

Source details and check notes

Authors: Hugo de Garis
Version: Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31 (SHA-256 a34a9603eb235db90653e91a1458ccd578852df35c93c77f886d4681237df8ea). Current Kurzweil Library page (address ?p=80464, redirected), stating the KurzweilAI.net publication date.
Canonical address: Open the canonical source ↗
Accessed: 2026-10-31
Language: English (en)
Attribution: Hugo de Garis, “Building Gods or Building Our Potential Exterminators?”, 2001-02-26.
Reuse: No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution.
Check notes: Candidate pack passage, machine succession, scale and acceleration (research/heterodox-thought). The quotation (20 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. A cross-family machine check (2026-11-01, item 96) re-read the record’s source and agreed with its stance; its corrections were applied at admission. No human editorial review.

Status and meaning

Editorial status. Machine-checked. Machines found this record and checked it against its sources; no person accepted it individually. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.

Relation. A passage of the document meets the proposition’s criterion. The record documents what the text states, in its register (fiction and satire are labelled); it is not evidence that the proposition is true and implies no influence on or from another text.

Date. Date stated by the Kurzweil Library copy (writingsbyraykurzweil.com, ?p=80464): 'Originally published February 26, 2001 on KurzweilAI.net.'

Record ID ht-w09-degaris-2001-building-gods