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The Extropians message “Re: Geniebusters” (1999-04-08) contests Y15. Commenting on the 'Geniebusters' website's doubts that an automated coder could be built, he argues that even a domain-specific 'coding drone' would outprogram humans and might be independently motivated and rapidly self-enhancing, which he says he believes. Copy claim link
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Date 1999-04-08 · 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 system can be highly capable without having goals or optimising for outcomes. Scope and limits Premise addressed: A system can be highly capable without having goals or optimising for outcomes. In the same paragraph he gives a hedged reason: it “could be” that coding is so general a task that even a domain-specific coding drone would be independently motivated and rapidly self-enhancing, which he says he believes. Conditional in scope: about one domain-specific system; it does not discuss whether a system that only produces outputs would be safe. Quotation shortened to respect the ~10% cap for a short message. The generality clause ("it could be that coding is such a general task that") precedes the quotation; the words elided inside it are "to the point of Powerdom", his term for becoming a superintelligent Power.
The evidence 01 primary source Supports the claim
Re: Geniebusters (Extropians mailing list) ↗ Extropians mailing list · 1999-04-08
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Source excerpt “a "coding drone" would be (1) independently motivated and (2) rapidly self-enhancing … I personally believe (1) and (2).” Location in source message body, paragraph beginning 'The vast majority of coding would occur easily'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-07
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Archive HTML as served, retrieved 2026-10-07 (SHA-256 789309c9bcf6ac523ec1a05c9a1d57411ef36b56d1a3c6cb3484fb1032a4ce48); 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: Geniebusters”, Extropians mailing list, 1999-04-08. 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 T15-e2. The quotation (19 words; trimmed 2026-10-13 from 28 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 789309c9bcf6ac523ec1a05c9a1d57411ef36b56d1a3c6cb3484fb1032a4ce48) 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 "1999-04-08" under "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky". Sent header: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 20:46:00 -0500.
Record ID yk-y15-extropians-1999-04-08-yudkowsky-0310-c