yudkowsky.net/sing/principles.ext.html

The Singularitarian Principles! Eliezer has no particular authority over Singularitarianism, but he was the main guy to get his act together and write stuff about it, so there you have it. Published *over four years ago* (!), the Principles include:

The "definitional" principles:

1. Singularity. This covers our current best theory for how the Singularity will go down, how we can best influence it, what could go wrong, and so on. It also encompasses our ideas about transhuman smartness and our efforts to (very slowly) approximate that smartness by improving our own rationality. This probably overlaps with the "Intelligence" principle around the edges.

2. Activism. Actually *doing* something about the Singularity; accelerating its arrival (if it appears safe to do so), and making sure that the first transhuman intelligence has a morality that allows it to see us as sentient beings and not simple building materials (the latter could be the *default* for poorly designed seed AIs.) To quote directly from the Principle, "Many of us, I'm sure, aren't as active as we'd like to be. At this point in time, our "activism" may consist simply of waiting for something to do. Not all of us have the gift of planning; to seek out and create opportunities requires time and talent, not just will. But at the least, the will has to be present. Perhaps things will be picking up shortly, with the creation of the Singularity Institute." I don't think that things picked up that greatly with the creation of the Singularity Institute (others may disagree), but it's never too late to start!

3. Ultratechnology. Sometimes technology allows you to do really, really cool stuff. The Singularity is the greatest example of that kind of thing; it's very questionable to even call it a "technology", but from our current reference frame, that's what the beginning of it will look like. Someone needs to *actually create* a piece of "technology"; a seed AI, before the Singularity happens. But simply advocating ultratechnology is not enough; many forms of ultratechnology have the potential to wipe out the human race completely, healing no wounds and doing no good for anyone. Tricky business.

4. Globalism. That means we want *everyone* to benefit from the Singularity, its arrival to be as calm as possible (for those that desire it), and for no one entity to "steal the Singularity" by using greater-than-human intelligence to pursue selfish goals at the expense of others. This links in with the problem of the *integrity* of the Singularity; we want a Singularity seed with a morality that allows it to see us as sentient beings as worthy of value.


And now...the descriptive Principles. The description says, "These are items which are more than usually dependent on personal opinions about the Universe, opinions which vary independently of accepting the possibility and desirability of Singularity. Descriptive Principles are "detached"; they could be disproved independently of the Singularitarian meme itself. However, I do think that these Principles form either an important part of Singularitarianism, or an important part of what binds the Singularitarian community together.":

1. Apotheosis. This principle makes the observation that the Singularity is a chance to really, REALLY improve quality of life for everyone. Far beyond anything we can currently imagine.

2. Solidarity. We're all in this one together, kiddies. If a smarter-than-human intelligence is created and begins to recursively self-improve, it will leave its mark on the human race as a whole, and that could be a radically good or a radically bad thing, depending on the motivations of that transhuman intelligence.

3. Intelligence. Respect for the fundamental quality of intelligence, the "magical quality" that made the difference between animal societies and complex human culture. Intelligence lets you see something as "immediately obvious" that you might have otherwise seen as "obvious in retrospect" or even "not obvious at all". Intelligence is the universal solvent capable of eating into all problems, be they physical, intellectual, emotional, "spiritual", *whatever*. Intelligence opens up the range of problems solvable to us, and dictates which problems we even notice to begin with.

4. Independence. Regarding the Singularity as a personal goal. This ties in with "activism". This sentence originally made me laugh and I still take it to heart: "If every other Singularitarian on the planet died in a tragic trucking accident, the last remaining Singularitarian would continue her personal efforts to make the Singularity happen." In practice though, it helps to form little groups and get people to motivate one another, otherwise nothing gets done.

5. Nonsuppression. It's strongly suggested that we not attempt suppressing other technologies, even if they seem threatening to humanity as a whole. It seems more effective to accelerate the technologies we like rather than try to put a stop on those we don't.

There you have it. Singy principles. I hope this review was interesting for older Singularitarians and newbies alike!