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The post “The Hidden Complexity of Wishes” (2007-11-24) contests Y03. Correcting a reading of his 2007 post, he says the difficulty he described concerns what a superintelligence wants, not whether it could understand or predict human values. Copy claim link
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Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 2007-11-24 · publication Wording attested 2024-05. Note signed 'EY, May 2024'; absent from the posting-day version 1.0.0 of the 2007 post. Role Contesting, Later restatement 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 if an AI understands what we intend, it will act on that understanding. Scope and limits Premise addressed: If an AI understands what we intend, it will act on that understanding. He grants here that it would be false to say he argued superintelligences could not understand human values; the passage separates understanding from wanting rather than denying understanding.
The evidence 01 primary source Supports the claim
The Hidden Complexity of Wishes ↗ Overcoming Bias · 2007-11-24
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Source excerpt “This point is relevant within a larger argument, because it bears on the complexity of what you need to get an artificial superintelligence to want or value; rather than bearing on what a superintelligence supposedly could not predict or understand.” Location in source The Hidden Complexity of Wishes, parenthesised note at the head of the post signed 'EY, May 2024'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-06
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Post body retrieved through the LessWrong GraphQL API on 2026-10-06 (SHA-256 4512581ba1460d48f8cce9a1db8ad40841ca70e9480d9af6a81fb4308fcba9e0), content version 1.4.0; quotations also compared with the posting-day version 1.0.0. As imported to LessWrong. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-06 Language English (en) Attribution Eliezer Yudkowsky, “The Hidden Complexity of Wishes”, Overcoming Bias, as imported to LessWrong, 2007-11-24. 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 T03-c. The quotation (40 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 4512581ba1460d48f8cce9a1db8ad40841ca70e9480d9af6a81fb4308fcba9e0) when checked on 2026-10-06. It is absent from the posting-day version 1.0.0, so it is a later addition. Pack version note: edited post, current version 1.4.0; posting-day check pending. The note is signed 'EY, May 2024' and is a later addition to the 2007 post.. 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. LessWrong postedAt of an imported Overcoming Bias post (Overcoming Bias date).
Record ID yk-y03-lw-2007-the-hidden-complexity-of-wishes-c