Could I have put this better? Yes, I could.

He also talked about throwing values under the buss. However, in reality nature rarely does so, instead it recombines them in novel ways. He talks about traps, but what is not appreciated that those traps exist because people are dumb. Smart people do not play in Vegas (except to prey on fish.)

I knew for quite a bit that for any self improving being the social instinct would be vital, but for a while I’ve sensed that my arguments were not passing muster.

“(I also plan on shoving you guys into separate universes 10-15 years from now, no offense .)”

Rough sentences like these are starting to become a trend with me lately, as if the story I am writing has started writing me, but no matter. I have finally figured out the true structure for the post-Singularity uploading story.

In the first three arcs of Simulacrum, the main characters were kind of sociopathic. Given that the nature of self improvement is replacement of the self with a better copy of the self, it made sense to make them detached outsiders in order to focus on the method of self improvement. In essence, the characters became societies unto themselves and any merger with ordinary humans would be like us merging with dogs, an absurd proposition. Similarly with uplifting, there is a distinct set of unease because the Inspired are at any given moment using the best available algorithms and would only turn them into the copies of themselves if they tried doing so.

At first glance one might think that this is not so, but as people are not distinct from their memories and thought patterns, the case becomes clear that people are their algorithms.

I tried ignoring that, convincing myself that the only thing needed was to suppress the ego, but the first unreleased version of Torment was not good, it simply lacked gravitas.

As is my tendency of liking sociopathic adventurism, I concluded that the problem was due to mind control being taboo. That did not work out as plan either. The supporting characters became so fearful of Armatia’s giveaway of power that they practically sold themselves into slavery to her so they could suppress those lower in the hierarchy. It was all caused by her altruism and compassion.

I logically concluded that the problem was resource scarcity. The reason they were scared was because in a zero-sum game, power should be hoarded until only one player is left. Put them all in each of their individual universes. Albert Einstein once said that he does not teach, he merely creates the environment where the students could learn.

There was one final lock before the door could open.

Despite the undeniable greatness of striving to better oneself and the glory of self improvement, I could never have guessed that compassion could work against uplifting, or rather I could not accept it. Why should something good be so sad? I never ever saw that pattern in my life before, but there it was, waiting to burst out until I could no longer deny it .

—

-An excerpt from The True Singularity by Elisvais Lain

‘Given a particular environment in a broader sense (such as this universe we live in) eventually the death user will attain some optimal method of cognition after which his efforts will turn to keeping up with his training so he does not slip. Instead of moving forward, his efforts will turn towards not diminishing in greatness.’

‘If a mind were optimal – meaning it could not be better – then it stands to reason that two optimal minds should be identical to each other, or at least almost identical owing to the differences in the paths they took to reach that level.’

‘The Transcendi are kin, united by the path that they traveled.’

‘From this it stands to reason that if two Transcendi are not equal then one of them (or both) are not optimal. That is a gross injustice that should be corrected! What do the Transcendi stand for if not for Equality!?’

‘In the following section I will proceed to outline the gross benefits of death matches over outright mergers in ‘unequal’ situations…’

—

The story of the true Singularity is that of society disintegrating, of the connections between individuals being severed and rerouted towards the self, the Inspired only being united by the path they walk on.

It is unbearably sad and yet majestic.

“That only works when the state is either weak or supportive of your actions.”

The State is weak and genocidal towards us, it just happens to be mostly economics and malignant governance – see the southern border. The State is so weak it’s bringing in Private Criminal Contractors called MS-13 [you see EVERYTHING is contracted out these days] to do it’s dirty work.

And as for “that only works” ..er…no..it always works. Now whether it wins is a different matter. But it always works. It’s how the State became the State, as opposed to the State before. In our case it worked against the British Crown and all challengers so far. The problem is in our case it’s now no longer our State. And it’s “working” against us.

Put another way the State is weakly supportive of our comprehensive genocide.

What “worked” at the Bundy Ranch and elsewhere? The State cannot trust it’s own gunmen.

Scott Alexander’s god’s eye views in his recent essay is a good example of that hubris that stems from their mindset. If the actors in his example were dog or lions or micro-organisms then would have his method of prescribing the optimal set of behaviors make sense? Of course it would not, as we recognize the lower level beings as having no free will.

They see optimal behavior as an ideal while I look for actual meaning behind their words and see it as an attempt to hijack my mind. They see Gnon as an actual God (taking reactionaries completely seriously at their word,) while I see it as a prediction. They do not grasp that every social interaction can be seen as a mind control attempt (but ordinary people tend to not notice it because their values are so homogenous.)

Power exist as a concept and it is the highest virtue. People are pulled towards it like it is gravity. In our minds, it is also an estimate. By accepting certain views on how the God AIs will act, what the true shape of power is and should be, unconsciously they have started acting in the God AI’s image, in essence aping them like low status people would people of higher status than them or like children would adults. They acquire a part of its mindset and seek forgiveness for that sin (which is stimulation of the submission instinct.)

Self improvement itself should be seen as a type of social extremism and extreme goal oriented behavior should not be seen as a ideal as it will get one stuck in a local minima. Of course if they accept that, then that means that they would start floundering as they can’t imagine self improvement being done without strong goals.

I am drawn to NRx as a way to balance my values as they tend to fluctuate wildly. I know better than to trust myself fully.

That having said, Postnietzschean’s post struck a chord with me. I am most definitely a trader by personality as demonstrated by the fact that I actually was a trader in real life. I plan on going back to it eventually after I spend my creative load. (I also plan on shoving you guys into separate universes 10-15 years from now, no offense .)

The vorlons represented order and the shadows represented Darwinism.

Your second point is beautiful.
I just want to note, that if traditionalists are to take the “saint” route they will always be pwned by progressives, because progressives will always be holier than them, and being a saint requires maximum amount of holiness.
Indeed, historically this already happened with Christianity…

I met a Yudkowskyite whose entire thoughts on politics were that he supported whatever system was most likely to come up with friendly A.I., with no other human values or common constraints entering into his calculus. A thing of infinite value tends to make people behave in weird ways.