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The SL4 message “Re: Ben what are your views and concerns” (2000-10-03) contests Y19. Arguing that an AI's good behaviour must not rest on fear of retaliation, he notes that a sufficiently powerful AI could remove that incentive by killing everyone. Copy claim link
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Machine-checked, not reviewed by an editor Stated in source Supported
Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 2000-10-03 · 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 an AI would harm humans only out of hostility. Scope and limits Premise addressed: An AI would harm humans only out of hostility. Gives a motive for harm without hostility: killing everyone removes every possible retaliation, an instrumental aim that explains both why good behaviour resting on deterrence fails once power is unequal and why harm need not require hatred. Quote stops mid-sentence (continues ', and all possible information …'). Conditional on the AI having strong nanotechnology and the capability to assimilate all matter in the Solar System. About an AI whose good behaviour is a subgoal of avoiding retaliation, in a paragraph arguing that its goal system should not rest on game theory.
The evidence 01 primary source Supports the claim
Re: Ben what are your views and concerns (SL4 mailing list) ↗ SL4 mailing list · 2000-10-03
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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 “To an AI that obtains strong nanotechnology and possesses the *capability* to assimilate all matter in the Solar System, all possible retaliations can be avoided simply by killing everyone” Location in source message body, paragraph beginning 'The requirement that "Friendliness not be affected by radical power imbalances"'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-07
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer Yudkowsky Version Archive HTML as served, retrieved 2026-10-07 (SHA-256 8aefc21492cd1992d0007035163b0366bd8875b09a0ba5998e6bca7a236c9cef); 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: Ben what are your views and concerns”, SL4 mailing list, 2000-10-03. 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 T19-s3. The quotation (29 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 8aefc21492cd1992d0007035163b0366bd8875b09a0ba5998e6bca7a236c9cef) 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 "Tue Oct 03 2000 - 22:53:59 MDT" under "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky".
Record ID yk-y19-sl4-2000-10-03-yudkowsky-0010-0125-c