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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. Copy claim link
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Machine-checked, not reviewed by an editor Stated in source Supported
Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 1999-08-25 · publication Role Contesting, Earliest located 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 humans could trade with a superintelligence for what we need. Scope and limits Premise addressed: Humans could trade with a superintelligence for what we need. Speculative and partly joking register (the paragraph ends with a jest about replacement entertainers). His next paragraph considers it somewhat more likely, though still not likely, that superintelligences would keep humans to encourage other Singularities. Short message (137 words), so the quotation is limited to about 13 words.
The evidence 01 primary source Supports the claim
Re: SI Comparative Advantage [was Re: Free Will] (Extropians mailing list) ↗ Extropians mailing list · 1999-08-25
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Source excerpt “… necessary that the SIs don't have something *else* they want to do with atoms.” Location in source message body, paragraph beginning 'No, it could also be necessary'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-07
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Archive HTML as served, retrieved 2026-10-07 (SHA-256 7618c597242da2ca916693d2a9f504a9f6856c06202a85912a664edca705a6ce); 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: SI Comparative Advantage [was Re: Free Will]”, Extropians mailing list, 1999-08-25. 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 T18-e1. The quotation (15 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 7618c597242da2ca916693d2a9f504a9f6856c06202a85912a664edca705a6ce) 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 "1999-08-25" under "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky". Sent header: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 18:18:21 -0500.
Record ID yk-y18-extropians-1999-08-25-yudkowsky-2783-c