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Yudkowsky’s post of 2008-12-02 defines recursive self-improvement as an AI rewriting its own cognitive algorithms, which "closes the loop", and argues that it either peters out or goes FOOM. Copy claim link
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Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 2008-12-02 · publication Role Articulation Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Scope and limits An argument, not a report of any system.
The evidence 01 primary source Supports the claim
Hard Takeoff ↗ Overcoming Bias · 2008-12-02
Archived copy, captured 2018-12-13: Hard Takeoff ↗
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Source excerpt “Recursive self-improvement - an AI rewriting its own cognitive algorithms - identifies the object level of the AI with a force acting on the metacognitive level; it "closes the loop" or "folds the graph in on itself".” Location in source Second paragraph
Machine-checked · 2026-10-06
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Text checked in the post’s first stored version through the LessWrong GraphQL API on 2026-10-06; content version 1.0.0. Now hosted on LessWrong. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-06 Language English (en) Archive copy Open archived copy, captured 2018-12-13: Hard Takeoff ↗ . Captured 3663 days after the recorded publication date. An archive copy shows only what the archive retrieved on 2018-12-13. It does not prove what the page said earlier, and it can differ from the copy checked on 2026-10-06.Attribution Eliezer Yudkowsky, "Hard Takeoff", Overcoming Bias (now hosted on LessWrong), 2008-12-02. 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 Checked against the first stored version on 2026-10-06. Status and meaning Editorial status. Not reviewed by an editor . An exploratory record that no editor has accepted. This status does not say whether a person has read any linked passage. 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. LessWrong posting time 2008-12-02T20:44:26Z of the imported Overcoming Bias post.
Record ID ts-a3-yudkowsky-2008-hard-takeoff