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Is There Another?
Posted By: EnkiduDate: 9/14/04 5:59 p.m.

In Response To: Re: The stages of Rampancy (Forrest of B.org)

: In the Eternalverse I hold that there is a fourth stage of
: "rampancy", Love, which can only be brought about by a pairing
: of compatible AIs to balance each other.

Heh. I theorised something almost the same, coming from a completely different direction.

You can match the stages of Rampancy to the general categories of sin in Dante's Inferno; Melancholy for crimes against self, Anger for crimes against others, and Jelousy for crimes against the Cosmos. (or, if you prefer, the Divine. Medieval philosophers didn't trouble themselves much with differences between the two, AFAIK.)

However, in Dante's model there is literally a hole... at the bottom of the deepest pit, in the ice surrounding the fallen Lucifer, there is a gateway into Purgatory through which Dante is guided by Virgil. Now, Niven and Pournelle speculated in their novel Inferno that a soul sufficiently innured to sin could follow the same path and be granted the chance at redemption.

I postulated that given sufficient resources and incentive to expand, and given that the AI doesn't destroy itself, it too is given the opportunity to transcend from classic Rampancy into a stable state... assuming that G.K. did indeed use the Dante model or one from which Dante also borrowed. Of course, entering the Repentance stage involves going through a Purgatory of reconciling past (very bad) behaviours on the way to an enlightened state.

Of course, I can't prove this. It's rather blue-sky right now but it makes an interesting basis for, uh, side-projects. :)

: Aside from that, I believe that the Jealous stage of rampancy is probably a
: terminal one unless otherwise stemmed, resulting in a continual
: competition with all things until the death of that AI or the end of time.
: If any such AI did mange to escape and "become God", he would
: probably be more like a demon - a W'rkncacnter.

Hmm. I like that one. Fits well with the Dante theory, too.

-- Steve's glad that reading about half the Divine Comedy is showing some return.

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

The stages of RampancyBlayne 9/14/04 11:08 a.m.
     Re: The stages of Rampancygoran 9/14/04 12:04 p.m.
     Re: The stages of RampancyForrest of B.org 9/14/04 12:06 p.m.
           Is There Another?Enkidu 9/14/04 5:59 p.m.
                 Re: Is There Another?Mista_B 9/14/04 6:24 p.m.
                       Re: Is There Another?Blayne 9/14/04 8:01 p.m.
                             Re: Is There Another?Forrest of B.org 9/14/04 8:54 p.m.
                                   Rampant Stabilization and unmergingBlayne 9/15/04 7:06 a.m.

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Pre-2004 Posts

 

 

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