| I'm not talking about covid; covid is not covering the planet. I'm talking about life in general. All that oxygen comes from all the plants. Yes, life has so far only covered the top of the planet. You are right that a paper clip maximizer would need quite a bit of time to go deeper than life has gone (if it would get there at all). > And a paperclip factory isn't self-reproducing [...] Why wouldn't it? If your hypothetical superhuman AGI determined that becoming self-reproducing would be the right thing to do, presumably it would do that. No perfection required for that. Biological machines aren't perfect either. Just good enough. You are right that thermodynamics puts a limit on how fast anything can transform the planet into paperclips or grey goo. Though the limit is probably mostly about waste heat, not necessarily about available energy: There's enough hydrogen around that an AGI that figured out nuclear fusion would have all the energy it needs. But on a planet wide basis, there's no way to dissipate waste heat faster than via radiation into space. (Assuming currently known physics, but allowing for advances in technology and engineering.) --- Of course, when we worry about paperclip maximisers, it's bad enough when they turn the whole biosphere into paperclips. Noticing that they'll have a hard time turning the rest of the earth into paperclips would be scant consolation for humanity. (But the thermodynamic limits on waste heat still apply even when just turning the biosphere into paperclips.) |