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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
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“Staring into the Singularity” (1996-11-18) bears on Y20. Rejects the science-fiction picture of AIs acquiring resentment; in this early text the point supports the conclusion that hostile Powers are not worth worrying about, while a badly programmed Power with hostile goals is called 'an engineering risk'. Copy claim link
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Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 1996-11-18 · publication Wording attested 2000-12-04. The quoted wording is that of version 1.2.1 ("Updated: 08/31/2000") as captured on 2000-12-04; no capture of the 1996–1999 page holds the text. Role Context Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Missing element It rejects hostile emotions arising in AI in order to reassure; it does not argue that the risk is film fiction or that films are a fair guide. Scope and limits Premise addressed: The concern is about robots that come to hate or rebel against humans. Wayback capture 2000-12-04 (page dated 11/18/1996, updated 08/31/2000); first appearance of the sentence not established. Related rather than answered-it because the surrounding argument draws a reassuring conclusion that his later texts do not share. In context the point reassures: the same paragraph says there is no point worrying that hostile Powers will inevitably wipe out humanity. Not the later "risk is real but not Terminator" argument.
The evidence 01 primary source Supports the claim
Staring into the Singularity (version 1.2.1) ↗ Eliezer S. Yudkowsky · 1996-11-18
Archived copy, captured 2000-12-04: Staring into the Singularity (version 1.2.1) ↗
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Source excerpt “But emotions like "selfishness" and "resentment" do not spontaneously appear in artificial intelligences, hackneyed science-fictional plot devices to the contrary.” Location in source Staring into the Singularity, end of section 4, paragraph beginning 'Likewise, there's absolutely no point in worrying'
Machine-checked · 2026-10-06
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer S. Yudkowsky Version Version 1.2.1, "Updated: 08/31/2000", in the raw Internet Archive capture of 2000-12-04; retrieved 2026-10-06 with the hash recorded by the 1996–2022 candidate search. Personal website, sysopmind.com. Version date 2000-08-31 Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-06 Language English (en) Archive copy Open archived copy, captured 2000-12-04: Staring into the Singularity (version 1.2.1) ↗ . Captured 95 days after the recorded version date. An archive copy shows only what the archive retrieved on 2000-12-04. It does not prove what the page said earlier, and it can differ from the copy checked on 2026-10-06.Attribution Eliezer S. Yudkowsky, "Staring into the Singularity", version 1.2.1 (2000). 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 T20-c. The quotation (20 words) matched the retrieved expression (SHA-256 a883c7d611f7d6f5d3b64d6901e2086d4b33b3df9621927da6d70789a7302316) when checked on 2026-10-06. 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 bears on the proposition without meeting its criterion; the record names the missing element. It is not an articulation and implies no influence.
Date. The page states "Created: 11/18/1996"; the essay was announced on the Extropians list on 1996-11-19. As for the human-thought collection's records of this essay.
Record ID yk-y20-staring-into-the-singularity-b