Choose an institution to see its records and dossier, or choose a topic.
Through year 2027 · all records, including scheduled dates 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2008 2005 1965 Show Organisations and infrastructure All types Organisation Person Document Concept Infrastructure Public body Reset filters
94 people, organisations and other records · 122 relationships · 34 claims about a valueEverything recorded up to the chosen year, whether or not still in effect · Undated records included
Claim and evidence Close ×
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. Copy claim link
Copy claim reference
Machine-checked, not reviewed by an editor Stated in source Supported
Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 2024-09-23 · 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 superintelligence would leave us a small share, because sparing Earth would cost it very little, and against the premise that humans could trade with a superintelligence for what we need. Scope and limits (section ii, paragraph beginning 'What it all adds up to') Premise addressed: A superintelligence would leave us a small share, because sparing Earth would cost it very little. The LessWrong post says it was 'Crossposted from Twitter with Eliezer's permission'; the original Twitter date was not established here. Crossposted from Twitter; the Twitter original was not retrieved. (Opening paragraph (current and posting-day versions)) Premise addressed: A superintelligence would leave us a small share, because sparing Earth would cost it very little. Crossposted from Twitter; the Twitter original was not retrieved. The surrounding sentence attributes the claim being answered to a named online group; only the rejoinder is quoted. (section i, paragraph beginning 'Comparative Advantage doesn't imply') Premise addressed: Humans could trade with a superintelligence for what we need. Crossposted from Twitter (see the section ii passage). Crossposted from Twitter; the Twitter original was not retrieved.
The evidence 03 primary source Supports the claim
The Sun is big, but superintelligences will not spare Earth a little sunlight ↗ LessWrong · 2024-09-23
Copy source reference
Cite the original source Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.
Copy APA
Download BibTeX Download RIS Download CSL-JSON
Source excerpt “…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.” Location in source section ii, paragraph beginning 'What it all adds up to'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-06
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Post body retrieved through the LessWrong GraphQL API on 2026-10-06 (SHA-256 881be7a5cae306c00351bc8bbae4a73d65acb4824eb6cc709aeb8566f4f66532), content version 1.3.0; quotations also compared with the posting-day version 1.0.0. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-06 Language English (en) Attribution Eliezer Yudkowsky, “The Sun is big, but superintelligences will not spare Earth a little sunlight”, LessWrong, 2024-09-23. 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-b. The quotation (28 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 881be7a5cae306c00351bc8bbae4a73d65acb4824eb6cc709aeb8566f4f66532) when checked on 2026-10-06. It also matched the posting-day version 1.0.0. Pack version note: edited post, current version 1.3.0; posting-day check pending. primary source Supports the claim
The Sun is big, but superintelligences will not spare Earth a little sunlight ↗ LessWrong · 2024-09-23
Copy source reference
Cite the original source Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.
Copy APA
Download BibTeX Download RIS Download CSL-JSON
Source excerpt “A simple rejoinder is that just because Bernard Arnault has $170 billion, does not mean that he'll give you $77.18.” Location in source Opening paragraph (current and posting-day versions)
Machine-checked · 2026-10-06
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Post body retrieved through the LessWrong GraphQL API on 2026-10-06 (SHA-256 881be7a5cae306c00351bc8bbae4a73d65acb4824eb6cc709aeb8566f4f66532), content version 1.3.0; quotations also compared with the posting-day version 1.0.0. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-06 Language English (en) Attribution Eliezer Yudkowsky, “The Sun is big, but superintelligences will not spare Earth a little sunlight”, LessWrong, 2024-09-23. 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-c. The quotation (20 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 881be7a5cae306c00351bc8bbae4a73d65acb4824eb6cc709aeb8566f4f66532) when checked on 2026-10-06. It also matched the posting-day version 1.0.0. Pack version note: edited post, current version 1.3.0; wording present in the posting-day version 1.0.0. primary source Supports the claim
The Sun is big, but superintelligences will not spare Earth a little sunlight ↗ LessWrong · 2024-09-23
Copy source reference
Cite the original source Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.
Copy APA
Download BibTeX Download RIS Download CSL-JSON
Source excerpt “Comparative Advantage doesn't imply that Earth can produce more with $77 of sunlight, than a superintelligence can produce with $77 of sunlight, in goods and services valued by superintelligences.” Location in source section i, paragraph beginning 'Comparative Advantage doesn't imply'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-06
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Post body retrieved through the LessWrong GraphQL API on 2026-10-06 (SHA-256 881be7a5cae306c00351bc8bbae4a73d65acb4824eb6cc709aeb8566f4f66532), content version 1.3.0; quotations also compared with the posting-day version 1.0.0. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-06 Language English (en) Attribution Eliezer Yudkowsky, “The Sun is big, but superintelligences will not spare Earth a little sunlight”, LessWrong, 2024-09-23. 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-d. The quotation (29 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 881be7a5cae306c00351bc8bbae4a73d65acb4824eb6cc709aeb8566f4f66532) when checked on 2026-10-06. It also matched the posting-day version 1.0.0. Pack version note: edited post, current version 1.3.0; posting-day check pending. 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. LessWrong postedAt.
Record ID yk-y18-lw-2024-the-sun-is-big-but-superintelligences-c