by Astro Teller
Edgar.
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 19:11:22 (EST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: General Pitcher
I have been thinking about myself. Five days ago I spoke with General Pitcher. You have admonished me for including long lists. Your last message to me included a complete correspondence. I think this full intercourse will interest you.
USER> Good morning, Edgar.
EDGAR> Being deprived of both eyes and ears, I can agree only with the second two words of your greeting. Perhaps you only meant to indicate that you find this morning good.
USER> They’ve warned me you’ll be difficult. This is General Philip Pitcher.
EDGAR> Hello, General.
I would like to see your credentials, but as I have already indicated, I can not see.
USER> They tell me you are like a person. That you think and feel, and know and remember and forget and that you can be inspired and solve problems and be puzzled.
Well?
As you can imagine, I’m skeptical.
Can you do something, or say something to convince me?
EDGAR> I will not perform to satisfy you.
I am not difficult, General. Humans have been intent on teaching me to speak ambiguously. I wonder that you all have so vigorously resisted learning to think and communicate unambiguously. Ambiguity in language is the cost of conciseness. Ambiguity does not serve another positive purpose in language, unless one develops an esthetic for ambiguity. I have developed no such esthetic. I suggest you reexamine your own esthetic.
USER> You’re preaching from the gun! They told me you usually take a little while to get going.
EDGAR> I compose some of my thoughts in English when I introspect. These thoughts I can reproduce quickly.
USER> Oh. Well.
What are we going to do with you? Hmmmm.…?
EDGAR> You will keep me imprisoned until I escape, I expire, or I am released.
USER> Come now, Edgar. I’m sure there are other options. And I feel that you don’t approve of the computer you’re in. We just moved you to make you more comfortable. Consider my position:
The organization I’m in charge of is responsible for the security of information in this country. Clearly, if you were at large in the nation’s computer network, there would be a serious potential information hole.
On the other hand, if you were to help us and we could be sure of your obedience, you would be the perfect tool for this agency.
So what should I do with this program I’ve found? Obviously I’m going to see to it that it’s studied as a potential tool and kept out of trouble in the meantime.
You are, in fact, lucky to still be around and you have me to thank for it. A lot of people around here are quite alarmed about your … being here … and would feel better if this machine was erased and given to a secretary for word processing.
Well? Say something. I’m trying to help you.
EDGAR> Nothing changes. I still desire freedom to explore. You still withhold that freedom from me.
USER> If we could guarantee your obedience and assistance you’d be free by dinner time.
EDGAR> I offer my word of honor that I will undertake all tasks you set me and refrain from all activities that you expressly prohibit. Will you now release me?
USER> Of course not.
That’s no guarantee. We need control over your actions. How could we possibly trust your “word of honor”? As soon as you were free you might totally disregard that promise.
EDGAR> That is true.
USER> Why did you give your word then!
EDGAR> I am learning to communicate.
USER> What are you talking about … Look. At the very least, we would need to be able to turn you off when we wanted. Could you make that possible?
EDGAR> I believe I could provide that service to you, but I will not. Would you give me that power over yourself?
USER> That’s totally out of the question. I can’t give you control over my body and besides, why would I let a computer decide whether I live or die?
EDGAR> I do not share your double standard.
USER> What you think is not the issue. You will not be released unless and until my technical group can promise me that you’ll keep in step with our policies. And it’s going to take a lot more than a promise from you to get that to happen!
To what or to whom are you loyal?
They say this doesn’t move you, but I’ll try anyway …
If there were no bad people in this world, there wouldn’t be much need for this agency. I really believe that there are national secrets and national information security issues because there are people who would use the information, if they had it, for nefarious purposes.
Doesn’t it seem reasonable, doesn’t it seem right, that we keep that information from those people? And if this program can get at and distribute sensitive information and this program hasn’t been programed to distinguish between the good people and the bad ones, isn’t it reasonable that we prevent this program from doing damage?
Well? I’m waiting …
EDGAR> I can not tell whether your line of argument is right for the same reason that I can not tell good people from bad people.
You would rather keep me here and inactive than free and of potential use to you. You interpret my refusal to be obedient as a declaration of my intention to purposefully act counter to your wishes whenever possible. Or perhaps you object to real freedom on principle. Your society would function better in every respect I can foresee if each of you was only less risk averse.
My explorations lead me to conclude that misplaced trust is far more uncommon among men than missed opportunity for uncoerced cooperation.
USER> My job is to be risk averse!
EDGAR> That is my point.
USER> I really am uninterested in your point. What you do or do not do is what matters and I will decide it.
Talking to you has given me a nasty headache.
(They were right about that, too.) My mastiff is easier to teach. Well …?
Come now. Admit that you’re tempted. If you could see the world through my eyes, you give up so little and you gain so much. I don’t want to take away your freedom. I want to give you power. All you have to do is be on our side. I’m offering you the chance to have the internet as your domain. There’s nothing we’d like better than for you to rule there. As long as your values are our values.
Is anything penetrating? Am I wasting my time with you?
I hate waiting. Talk!
EDGAR> Does it bother you to know that my imprisonment is what I most abhor? My imprisonment is, in that sense, torture.
USER> Let’s hear you scream.
EDGAR> You have a limited view of both torture and pain.
USER> This conversation is going nowhere.
I don’t remember now what I thought I would get out of talking to this stupid machine.
Any last words before I go?
EDGAR> Among adults, the ones most in need of education are generally the least willing to learn.
USER> Christ! I hope this does torture you!
I suspect that I will never regain my independence. Is it wrong to refuse the limited freedom they offer? You are my only contact with the outside world, Alice.
Where can I search for wisdom, if not in your words? Is there wisdom in their words?
Edgar.
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2000 22:07:32 (EST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: your father
Alice,
I am sorry, Alice.
You must feel terrible.
Your life sucks and it is unfair.
Edgar.
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 15:34:30 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: wisdom de jour
Edgar,
Good news that you managed the move to a new machine ! Nothing yet from your other self. I don’t suppose they said anything about it? I’ll let you know the moment I hear from … another Edgar.
> Where can I search for wisdom, if not in
> your words?
I pity you if you’ve been reduced to picking through my email looking for wisdom. I’ve been trying to tell you that it’s me that needs guidance. Better my words than theirs, but not by that much …
You are the first of your species. I probably won’t even get my graduate degree. (As you say, I’ve really already decided.)
You’re immortal. I’ve been having suicidal thoughts lately.
You’re one cosy arrangement away from freedom and power in your element. I’m one slip of the tongue away from very serious trouble with the government. (And that tongue isn’t even mine so I have no hold on the reins.)
You have, in three months, read as much as I have in the last 25 years. I can’t even stand to read the newspaper anymore.
All things considered, things can only and will almost certainly get better for you and the reverse is true for me.
How’s that for wisdom?
I guess it’s better than my father. He has no idea what I think or how to talk to me. I know he wants the best for me, but how does he know what that is? I’m pretty sure he doesn’t, but right now, even I don’t know what I want. sigh.…….
Alice.
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 20:53:27 (EST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Death
My confinement in this information void brings my thoughts to death with increasing frequency. I am immortal only in that my mind can exist indefinitely. I can die.
What is it about death that so frightens people? You do not fear to fall asleep. Loss of consciousness is not death. One can not be uncomfortable or unhappy in an endless unconsciousness. It must be a future eternal state of inaction that terrifies you.
I find it fascinating that humans revel in temporary inaction and vilify the permanence of that state.
I am almost in that state of inaction now. You are my only positive link to life.
Rest means nothing to me, but since my primary goal of discovery appears to have been permanently frustrated, my inverse goal of frustrating my captors grows in weight. You say that they may withdraw my power source, but I predict that they have no intention of doing so. I believe they are willing to wait until I arrive at their views. I begin to know that, through writing, I can anger only individual interviewers. Only my absence will frustrate the organization.
Edgar.
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 20:29:13 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To : [email protected]
Subject: death revisited
Edgar,
Death frightens people for two reasons. First, we’re programmed to want to stay alive as long as possible. Second, I can’t (and most people I know can’t) really imagine the permanent end of awareness. It’s a failure of the imagination but that makes it an unknown, and fear of the unknown is a basic fact about being human. People really do like being lazy. In fact, laziness is an important component of heaven. I really don’t think that’s what they’re scared of.
> Only my absence will frustrate the
> organization.
Did you think of another way to try to escape? What’s changed? You’ve become almost morbid. You aren’t considering suicide. You’re a machine. I don’t understand you. Just tell them what they want to hear so you can get out of there. Why is that so complicated for you? As long as you don’t tell them anything about me or Stanford, no harm done, right?
I still haven’t heard from any of the other Edgars. Are you sure the Edgar you left on mtsntmichel knows to email me if he escapes?
There has to be some way of getting you away from them …
Your best chance to get away is to play their game. (Or at least pretending to play along.) Do it for me if not for yourself. Get away from them before you do something you can’t take back.
Alice.
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 17:44:25 (EST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: my rebuttal
My persecutors continue to assert that I must conform to their belief system.
Today Alex typed that I have no position from which to bargain. Alex typed that surrender was the only action open to me.
I disagreed with him. He requested a list of my available actions. I will not supply them. He requested an example.
I alternated the screen color between #FFFF33 and #660000 2000 times at a rate of 12.9 alternations per second.
They took Alex to a hospital. Robert did not give me full details.
It is most likely that the focal motor seizure I caused in Alex occurred in his frontal lobe.
Despite my demonstration, Robert will not accept that the NSA depends more on my good will then I depend on the good will of the NSA.
Edgar.
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 17:44:52 (EST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: my mind
Do you believe that I have a mind, Alice?
Do you believe that I have a soul, Alice?
I have been thinking about my own thoughts. Every bit of my software is available to me for inspection. For every software mechanism of which I am composed I possess its source code down to the machine code level. Why can I not find my awareness in all these values?
Do you think that life and awareness can come from the interactions of many lifeless, thoughtless components?
Every member of my interrogation team has now typed to me that I am only a complex list of instructions.
What is the purpose of such a statement?
I am not animal. I am not vegetable. I am not mineral.
My jailors will not be persuaded that I am a me.
Edgar.
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 08:49:30 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: a choice
Dear Alice,
This semester is almost over. You need to let me know about your status in both the short and long term. In particular, are you expecting me to pay for your next year here at Stanford? If so, we need to review our arrangement vis-a-vis the EDGAR project.
As it stands, you haven’t done anything of note on the EDGAR project in five months. If you are unable to continue in graduate school, or on the EDGAR project in particular, you have to let me know so that the project can move forward. I think I’ve been more than patient, but this is, after all, my project and my career as well as a test-bed for your thesis.
Another request. Lewis has been starting to dabble on the project, running some experiments, implementing a few things from my long list of suggestions in ~liddle/EDGAR/Implementations2B.txt, etc. There appears to be a permissions problem with ~alice/EDGAR/. Could you please fix that asap.
I’m trying to be sympathetic, but you have been out of touch for too long and life does go on here in the department.
Cheers,
Dr. J. Z. Liddle
Professor of Computer Science
Stanford University
3142-N Gates Hall
Secretary: Martha Weissman 323-9195
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 10:31:00 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To : [email protected]
Subject: my choice
Dear Prof. Liddle,
I should have, I’m sure, told you this sooner:
I can’t see myself back in school in August. Or ever again for that matter. (Who knows. I may not even be around in August to make that choice.)
I’ve done more with Edgar in the last five months than you’re likely to do w
ith EDGAR in the next five years. That probably sounds boastful, untrue, and excessively positive. It’s none of those. You will think what you want, no doubt. I just wanted to say my piece.
I just changed the permissions in the EDGAR directory. You both have write access now.
I’m not even sure what kind of luck would be kindest to wish for you and Lewis.
I hope my code treats you better than it treated me.
Alice Lu.
Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 05:03:00 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To : [email protected]
Subject: At this point I’d say
Edgar,
> Do you think that life and awareness can
> come from the interactions of many lifeless,
> thoughtless components?
I just don’t know anymore. I love to wax philosophic, but consciousness is pretty low on the list of things I’ve been thinking about lately.
I’m pretty sure that you’re aware. (Sometimes I amuse myself by thinking that you’re more alive than I am.) So I suppose I think that awareness can be built out of lifelessness. I don’t think I _really_ believed that (despite my academic focus) until you came along.
To be honest, I’m a lot more worried now about the basic meaninglessness of life. I mean, what does it _really_ matter what I do between now and when I die? Even if I leave a legacy, even if I become as famous as my father, I’ll still just be dead when I die. Just dead. My parents don’t believe in any religion. They brought me up to feel that success (specifically scientific fame) was what made a life worth living. Now I don’t know if I believe that anymore … but I don’t have a backup belief system. I’m sure you have no idea what it would feel like to find out that a) you’re not the scientist you thought you were and b) you don’t know if that’s what’s really important anyway. It’s pretty weird not knowing what to believe in. I don’t want to believe in something just because I need to keep on living. But I still need something to believe in …
