in effect, immortal—removes robots from the world of the vulnerable (at least robots of

in effect, immortal—removes robots from the world of the vulnerable (at least robots of the usually imagined sorts, with digital software and memories). If this isn’t obvious, think about how human morality would be affected if we could make “backups” of people every week, say. Diving headfirst on Saturday off a high bridge without benefit of bungee cord would be a rush that you wouldn’t remember when your Friday night backup was put online Sunday morning, but you could enjoy the videotape of your apparent demise thereafter. So what we are creating are not—should not be—conscious, humanoid agents but an entirely new sort of entities, rather like oracles, with no conscience, no fear of death, no distracting loves and hates, no personality (but all sorts of foibles and quirks that would no doubt be identified as the “personality” of the system): boxes of truths (if we’ re lucky) almost certainly contaminated with a scattering of falsehoods. It will be hard enough learning to live with them without distracting ourselves with fantasies about the Singularity in which these Als will enslave us, literally. The Auman use of human beings will soon be changed—once again—forever, but we can take the tiller and steer between some of the hazards if we take responsibility for our trajectory. 48 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_016268