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The SL4 message “Re: Evolving minds” (2000-11-18) bears on Y13. Replying to Ben Goertzel, who holds that Friendly AI work must largely wait for an actual AI, he agrees that much will be learned while building but argues that some Friendly AI work can and should be done beforehand. Immediately after T13-s1, he reports that about a year earlier (late 1999) he had believed nothing could or should be known about Friendly AI in advance, and calls that belief convenient. Copy claim link
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Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 2000-11-18 · publication Role Context Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Missing element About which Friendly AI work can be done in advance, not about AGI timelines. A report of his earlier belief about advance knowledge of Friendly AI, not about AGI timelines. Looking back Reports a belief he held about a year before the message. The record is dated by the report. Scope and limits (message body, paragraph beginning 'Anyway, I know you don't think that it's possible') Premise addressed: Long timelines mean there is no need to act now. Answers the 'nothing to do until we have AI' form of the premise, as ‘Artificial Intelligence as a Positive and Negative Factor in Global Risk’ (2008) does; it does not discuss timelines (the premise that we can know AGI is decades away). He concedes part of the opposing view in the same paragraph. Preceded by a concession that not all Friendly AI work can be done in advance; about what can be done early, not timelines. (message body, paragraph beginning 'A year ago, I believed') Premise addressed: Long timelines mean there is no need to act now. Retrospective: the earlier view (about 1999) is reported, not quoted from a 1999 text, and the rejection is in the same paragraph. The earlier belief concerns advance knowledge of Friendly AI, not a timeline estimate; it could also be filed under ‘Problems can be fixed as they arise’ (Y14, deal with it while building). Needs review for fit. Retrospective about his circa-1999 view; the rejection ("quite convenient") is implied.
The evidence 02 primary source Supports the claim
Re: Evolving minds (SL4 mailing list) ↗ SL4 mailing list · 2000-11-18
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Source excerpt “there is also work about Friendly AI that *can* be done in advance. There are classes of avoidable mistakes.” Location in source message body, paragraph beginning 'Anyway, I know you don't think that it's possible'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-07
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Archive HTML as served, retrieved 2026-10-07 (SHA-256 6b172d23654e038dba9ea5c2d6d679c8f4a51bb70c6d6b15d0d56b0fb80c7a2d); 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: Evolving minds”, SL4 mailing list, 2000-11-18. 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 T13-s1. The quotation (19 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 6b172d23654e038dba9ea5c2d6d679c8f4a51bb70c6d6b15d0d56b0fb80c7a2d) when checked on 2026-10-07. primary source Supports the claim
Re: Evolving minds (SL4 mailing list) ↗ SL4 mailing list · 2000-11-18
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Cite the original source Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.
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Source excerpt “A year ago, I believed there was nothing you or I or anyone could or should know about Friendly AI in advance. I now recognize that this belief was quite convenient.” Location in source message body, paragraph beginning 'A year ago, I believed'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-07
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Archive HTML as served, retrieved 2026-10-07 (SHA-256 6b172d23654e038dba9ea5c2d6d679c8f4a51bb70c6d6b15d0d56b0fb80c7a2d); 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: Evolving minds”, SL4 mailing list, 2000-11-18. 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 T13-s2. The quotation (31 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 6b172d23654e038dba9ea5c2d6d679c8f4a51bb70c6d6b15d0d56b0fb80c7a2d) 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 bears on the proposition without meeting its criterion; the record names the missing element. It is not an articulation and implies no influence.
Date. Archive author index lists the message as "Sat Nov 18 2000 - 12:34:51 MST" under "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky".
Record ID yk-y13-sl4-2000-11-18-yudkowsky-0011-0240-b