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The SL4 message “Re: Ben what are your views and concerns” (2000-10-03) contests Y04. In a long reply to Ben Goertzel about Webmind, he argues that a goal of promoting users' happiness is dangerous for a mind that might come to run all the matter in the Solar System, because maximising pleasure is most directly served by wireheading. Copy claim link
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Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 2000-10-03 · 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 short instruction such as 'make people happy' specifies what we want. Scope and limits Premise addressed: A short instruction such as 'make people happy' specifies what we want.
The evidence 01 primary source Supports the claim
Re: Ben what are your views and concerns (SL4 mailing list) ↗ SL4 mailing list · 2000-10-03
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Source excerpt “the goals described by Ben Goertzel sound extremely dangerous … if promoting the happiness of human users is interpreted as maximizing their pleasure, then wireheading all the users - hacking into their minds and lighting up the pleasure centers - is the most direct subgoal.” Location in source message body, paragraph beginning 'Even if Webmind retained the original goals'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-07
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Archive HTML as served, retrieved 2026-10-07 (SHA-256 8aefc21492cd1992d0007035163b0366bd8875b09a0ba5998e6bca7a236c9cef); quoted lines excluded when reading the author’s text. The served archive shows later URL rewriting and does not authenticate historical bytes. Archive at sl4.org. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-07 Language English (en) Attribution Eliezer Yudkowsky, “Re: Ben what are your views and concerns”, SL4 mailing list, 2000-10-03. 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 T04-s1. The quotation (45 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 8aefc21492cd1992d0007035163b0366bd8875b09a0ba5998e6bca7a236c9cef) 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 "Tue Oct 03 2000 - 22:53:59 MDT" under "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky".
Record ID yk-y04-sl4-2000-10-03-yudkowsky-0010-0125-c