Read it with this context. His later texts rejecting the 1996 assurance, one of which refers back to it.
Why: An earlier view that only partly matches the take; never show alone.
The Extropians message “Singularity, Breaker of Dreams” (1998-09-07) contests Y19. In the essay-length post 'Singularity, Breaker of Dreams', he recalls that his earlier certainty that superintelligent Powers would be ethical had meant he expected to survive and be upgraded, and says he now accepts that humans might be taken apart for their atoms without posing any threat, simply for efficiency. Inspect → “I am no longer sure that this precludes taking us apart for spare atoms. I no longer think that our continued survival has to threaten the Powers for us to be erased; … simple efficiency may require it.” The Extropians message “Re: SI Comparative Advantage [was Re: Free Will]” (1999-08-25) contests Y18. In a thread on superintelligences and comparative advantage, Lee Daniel Crocker argued that superintelligences would keep humans if we produced something they valued slightly more than our atoms, such as entertainment; he replies that this also requires that they have no better use for the atoms, and that optimising minds could build more entertaining replacements for us. Inspect → “… necessary that the SIs don't have something *else* they want to do with atoms.” The post “The Sun is big, but superintelligences will not spare Earth a little sunlight” (2024-09-23) contests Y18. Concludes his reply to the claim that, because the solar system is large, superintelligences will leave Earth alone: a tiny cost is still a cost to minds that do not value us. Answering the claim that a superintelligence would leave Earth alone because the Solar System is big, he argues by analogy that great wealth does not imply giving a small share to any particular party. Replies to the suggestion that humanity could trade with superintelligences for sunlight: Ricardo's law assumes each party's labour goes on existing and does not show that keeping humans is more profitable than using their share. Inspect → “…if there's a bunch of superintelligences running around and they don't care about you -- no, they will not spare just a little sunlight to keep Earth alive.”