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The Extropians message “Re: Singularity: Generation gap” (1997-09-26) contests Y01. In a reply to Eric Watt Forste about Singularity attitudes, he reports that a correspondent proposed simply pulling the plug on a transhuman intelligence if it looked dangerous, and answers that such a precaution would fail even against a human-level mind that had copied itself across the Internet. Copy claim link
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Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 1997-09-26 · publication Role Contesting Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Engagement Engages a premise. Under the message-level rule, the passage, read with the paragraph, message or dialogue turn it belongs to, gives a reason against the premise that a capable goal-directed system will not act to prevent its own shutdown or modification, and a shutdown or correction mechanism can simply be added to it. Scope and limits Premise addressed: A capable goal-directed system will not act to prevent its own shutdown or modification, and a shutdown or correction mechanism can simply be added to it. The second half is ironic role-play in the voice of the escaping intelligence. Earliest located direct answer to the 'pull the plug' proposal; the earliest passage in the answer/contrary group is his Extropians message of 1996-12-08. The same paragraph also dismisses 'keep it bottled up … only if it convinces us' (‘Confinement without network access keeps it safe’, Y06), but that is later than his messages of 1996-12-31 recorded for it.
The evidence 01 primary source Supports the claim
Re: Singularity: Generation gap (Extropians mailing list) ↗ Extropians mailing list · 1997-09-26
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Source excerpt “would not suffice to keep *me* in … Pull the plug? Hey, I'm already running on 200,000 computers” Location in source message body, paragraph beginning 'I think of the Singularity'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-07
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Archive HTML as served, retrieved 2026-10-07 (SHA-256 4553a5e84750edd9528beb9e2c297772caee01b17f1653ee34bdae4f8ca62354); quoted lines excluded when reading the author’s text. The served archive shows later URL rewriting and does not authenticate historical bytes. Archive at extropians.weidai.com. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-07 Language English (en) Attribution Eliezer Yudkowsky, “Re: Singularity: Generation gap”, Extropians mailing list, 1997-09-26. 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 T01-e2. The quotation (18 words; trimmed 2026-10-13 from 26 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 4553a5e84750edd9528beb9e2c297772caee01b17f1653ee34bdae4f8ca62354) when checked on 2026-10-07. 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 disputes the proposition or a premise it depends on. The record documents the text’s position, not who is right.
Date. Archive author index lists the message as "Fri, 26 Sep 1997 18:20:36 -0500" under "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky".
Record ID yk-y01-extropians-1997-09-26-yudkowsky-4420-c